Storms of Change
by Kiikun
Summary: RanmaLoveHina Crossover. Akane mallets Ranma into a thunderstorm, then he gets shot all the way to Okinawa! The Otohimes try to help the newest member of the family cope with a few problems. From nightmares to a hellish headache, Ikumi has to live through
1. 00: The Approaching Storm

Storms of Change  
A Ranma ½ / Love Hina crossover  
By: Kiikun   
Disclaimer: I dont own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and did not ask permission for their use. I make no money off of this and have no money to begin with, so suing me won't get you much.

Warning: This story uses some language not suited for younger readers. You have been warned

Timeline:  
Ranma ½: post-manga by a few months  
Love Hina: a few months after Keitaro, Naru, and Mutsumi were 'stranded' in Mutsumi's back yard.  
By Love Hina timeline: Late August 1999, giving until some time in November before Mutsumi returns to Tokyo.

00 - The Approaching Storm

* * *

It was late August and months had passed since the failed wedding. Akane and Ranma appeared to be getting closer for a bit, until Shampoo decided to put an end to it. Akane couldn't tell what he was doing about the other fiancées, since he wouldn't tell her anything, but from what she could see, it didn't look like he had done a thing. 

The amazons had changed their approach at drawing Ranma to them. Instead of potions, over abundant questionable affections, and other underhanded techniques, Shampoo had started using various seduction techniques. She had gone from just flat out glomping her airen to rubbing various parts of her anatomy against various parts of his, including a few times she had managed to catch him off-guard and get a nosebleed inducing leg lock around his head. Her clothing even changed on a near-daily basis, going from nearly naked to drop-dead sexy and back again.

Ukyo had changed slightly. The change in the girl annoyed Akane greatly because Ukyo had gone from trying to win the pigtailed martial artist through his stomach, to almost constantly oppose and berate the girl for her actions while at the same time actually seeming to step closer and closer to him. The cause of the change was something Akane would never guess on her own; Ukyo was no longer a fiancée. A few weeks after the wedding, Ranma and her had a talk and she realized just how much trouble she and Shampoo were causing. She still loved him, but decided that if she couldn't have him, she would protect him and fall into the role of 'best friend', even though it pained her.

* * *

Akane marched through the gate to Furinkan alone this morning with a thin red battle aura around her and a scowl on her face. The marching and the red glow emanating from the girl were not exactly odd, but being alone was. Usually, no matter what happened in the mornings, Ranma would catch up to his fiancée well before reaching the school. 

Ukyo noticed the lacking of her ex-fiancée and ran over to the enraged girl.

"Hey Akane!" she called out with a smile and wave. No need to get angry at her, yet.

Akane turned to the okonomiyaki chef, glaring. "Shut up and leave me alone, Ukyo. I don't care what you or that whore have to say!" she half-yelled, half-growled out before resuming her march to class.

The chef just stood there blankly for a minute. "Ok," she mumbled as her mind recovered from the sudden blast of anger from the 'true fiancée'. She knew that the amazon had something to do with Ranma's tardiness, and the sudden jump from the girl being a 'perverted amazonian bimbo' to 'whore' only left Ukyo curious as to what had happened that morning, and trying to ask Akane would be about as helpful as talking to the idiot panda without him using signs.

Looking back in the general direction of the Tendo Dojo for a moment, she sighed. 'Hope Ranchan's OK,' she thought as she turned back and headed into the school before Principal Nutcase came out of the woodwork.

The morning classes dragged on and Ukyo managed to catch bits and pieces of Akane's self-rants. From what she could piece together, Shampoo had managed to slip into Ranma's bed, again, and that something about it pissed the girl off more than usual. The chef had become worried now. Ranma still hadn't shown up. '_I really hope he's just nursing whatever wounds those two jackasses caused_,' she hoped, but knew the chances were nil.

Lunch rolled around and the storm clouds that had been gathering since early morning were beginning to look bad. It was definitely going to start raining before school let out, and there were flashes within the clouds, signaling that the electricity in the air would start to discharge into the ground shortly after the rain started.

There were still plenty of people eating lunch outside, though ready to run inside if the rain started early. Ukyo was one of them and she knew Akane and her friends had come out here too. She had already finished eating and was scanning the crowds for the mallet-happy girl, intending to get the whole story from her.

After a few minutes, she spots the girls and starts over towards them. As she got just within hearing distance of the group, she heard something going on near the front of the school. She recognized the sound as a scream of pain from Kuno and looked over curiously. There were really only two people Kuno bothered enough, and were skilled enough, to cause the idiot to scream like that. Quickly forgetting about Akane, she ran over to the front of the school. _'Ranchan's finally here!_' she squealed in her mind as a smile crossed her face.

* * *

Kuno stood in front of the main entrance to Furinkan, dressed in his kendo garb with bokken in hand, and scans the horizon. "The vile wretch Saotome refuses to show his face this day," he began his rant. "While that is a joyous occasion, the Pigtailed Girl has vanished as well and Tendo Akane remains under his spell." He took a step forward and raised his bokken to the sky as lightning flashed between the approaching storm clouds. "I, Kuno Tatewaki, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, shall free these maidens from your grasp, vile sorcerer!" he yelled out and then stuck his bokken back into his belt. 

Just as he was about to turn back into the school, a flash of red in the trees caught his eye. "Show yourself, or feel my blade!" he yelled, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

Not really complying with the order from the delusional kendoist, the hunched over redhead crawled out from behind the tree. She was dressed in only a loose white tank top and a pair of striped boxers. She looked at him and tilted her head curiously. "Mrrroow?"

"Ah! The Kami smile upon me and deliver the Pigtailed Girl before me," he said before realizing the state said 'girl' was in. "Come to me, oh Pigtailed Girl, and let my embrace break the spells the vile sorcerer has over your heart," he started approaching her and throwing his arms out wide.

The action caused Neko-Ranma to step back a bit, arch her back, and hiss loudly at him. This gave the kendoist pause and forced him to re-examine the figure before him. He came to a conclusion only a moment later. It was the wrong conclusion of course.

"The wretch has summoned forth a demon and possessed you with it," he said, his hand going back to his bokken. "He shall pay for such misdeeds, but first we must strike away the evil presence he has forced upon you."

He approached the cat-like girl again. He only managed to take three steps before Neko-Ranma leapt at him and ki-clawed several gashes in his uniform before slamming into him, sending him flying a short distance.

Stunned for only a moment, Kuno stood back up and draw his bokken. "I do not yield, demon! And I shall free the maiden of your presence!" he yelled and charged forward as Neko-Ranma leapt at him again.

* * *

Ukyo rounded the corner of the school to find Kuno and Ranma. Kuno was unconscious from the severe beating at the hands of the Neko-ken possessed martial artist. His bokken was completely shredded and his clothes were almost gone. He wasn't bleeding though, which Ukyo was glad for. She knew that Ranma wouldn't want to kill the idiot, no matter how annoying he was at times. 

Neko-Ranma was nearby, watching Kuno for any movements, and grooming herself. Ukyo noted the fact that the girl was wearing only what she normally slept in, which meant an undershirt and boxers. Both were still slightly damp.

The pieces in her mind started to fall into place. Ranma was missing because he went neko and hadn't calmed down yet. Shampoo had to be the cat that caused this. Ranma was female, so she had to have gone neko in that form. Akane was ranting about finding Shampoo in Ranma's bed and was abnormally pissed about it. Ranma, obviously, wouldn't have let the girl in if he had been awake.

Ukyo's eyebrow twitched as she made the last connection. Akane must have dumped water on the pair and stormed off, leaving Ranma and neko-Shampoo alone. She didn't know how it went to Ranma going neko afterwards, or why the dense Tendo girl was so pissed this morning, but she did know the effect and that the girl didn't even care at the moment.

Spinning on her heal, she stalked back in the direction she had just come.

* * *

Akane sat outside with her friends, Sayuri and Yuka, eating lunch and chatting. Her rage had subsided enough to where she could hold a normal conversation as long as it stayed away from certain topics, which the other two girls were doing expertly. They had enough chats after the Tendo girl had become angry at her fiancé for one reason or another and trying to talk sense into the girl was like trying to get Kuno to understand that his 'loves' hated him. 

They noticed Akane twitch involuntarily when Kuno screamed from somewhere in front of the school, but they kept the conversation going to keep her from falling back into the abnormally strong rage she'd been in all morning. Akane had managed to tell them what she saw that morning, between growls and liberal swearing, and were shocked for a few moments themselves. They even started to re-evaluate the pigtailed martial artist's apparent devotion to Akane before they remembered a number of other, milder, incidents where the purple-haired girl had snuck into the aquatransexual's bed.

A few minutes had passed since Kuno's scream, when Yuka noticed a very irate okonomiyaki chef approaching them.

"Um, Akane-chan. Kuonji-san is coming this way," Yuka said, gesturing in the girl's direction, forcing Akane to turn around.

Akane saw the slight battle aura surrounding the approaching enraged girl and stood facing her in a defensive stance. "I thought I told you to leave me alone," she growled out as she came within hearing range.

Ukyo stopped a few meters in front of her and glared coldly at the youngest Tendo. "And I **was** leaving you alone until I saw what you did to Ranchan!"

"What **I** did to that pervert!" She yelled, catching the attention of most of the people in the area. "**He** was in **bed** with that whore, **again**!" Her stance slipped into a more offensive one in her rage. "And they were doing **THAT** in **MY HOUSE**!"

Ukyo's glare wavered for a moment as she guessed what 'they' were supposedly doing, but knowing all involved made it very unlikely even with the way the Amazons acted. She knew Ranma loved Akane, even if he couldn't say the words easily, and would never do anything like 'that' with the purple-haired pain.

"Whatever you **think** you saw them doing is **WRONG**, Akane! Ranchan would **never** do that with Shampoo, and you know it!" She hollered, and then reigned in her emotions. She had promised Ranchan she would stop fighting, at least physically, with her over him and if she let her emotions take over, she was going to pound Akane flat at the very least. "The **least** you could have done was **NOT THROW COLD WATER ON THEM**! Damn it, Akane! You **KNOW** about the Neko-ken!"

"**I DON'T CARE!** Let that pervert have his cat-whore! Maybe he'll even take **YOU** to bed with him! You'd just **LOVE** that!"

Ukyo snapped at her words. Here was the loved one of the one she loved, the one who had won her Ranchan's heart, and she was shoving him away like he was some sort of plague given human flesh. She charged at Akane, fists balled at her sides, ready to strike.

Akane saw the charge and was sure the chef was going to strike low and shifted her guard down to block and redirect it. She was surprised to hear the loud clap of flesh meeting flesh as her vision shifted right when nothing had hit her guard. Then she felt a sharp, stinging pain on the left side of her face.

Ukyo stepped back from her. She had pulled her punch at the last second and instead slapped the stupid girl right across the face, where a red handprint was beginning to form. "You don't even realize how much he cares for you! Damnit! He **loves** you, and all you can do is make his life hell! Wake up before he decides to leave you!"

Akane was still dazed from the slap and Ukyo's words just passed right though her skull, unacknowledged. She turned back to face the okonomiyaki chef and leapt at her with her fist extended as a red battle aura sprang up around her.

The nearby students ran to get to safety so they wouldn't get caught up in the fight. Sayuri and Yuka had expected this to turn into a brawl much earlier and were already at the unspoken 'safe distance', hoping that neither of them would be seriously hurt. But they knew right now that Akane wasn't even thinking anymore, Ukyo had just pushed her over the edge they had been trying to pull her back from.

Akane was throwing wild punches and charging relentlessly at Ukyo, who was doing her best to avoid and deflect the girl's strikes as they moved around the now mostly cleared lunch area. She didn't want to break her promise to Ranma and hurt Akane, but her options were narrowing by the minute as a few of the wild punches broke through her guard. She'd have to gently knock the girl out somehow, but that would take somehow getting behind her, and that was near impossible at the moment.

Akane grinned as a few more of her punches struck the chef in the side, causing her to leap back. She didn't let up and followed her to start pounding on her guard again while trying to slip past it. Her grin grew wider as Ukyo focused on something behind her and let her guard slip, granting her a nice, clean shot at her face. The 'cute fiancée' was going to become a bit less cute.

* * *

Neko-Ranma was sure the boy with the stick wouldn't be getting back up soon this time and started looking around the school yard for something interesting, or a nice place to take a nap. She could hear people beyond the side of the building, yelling, and decided to check it out. Maybe there was someone there with a warm lap for her. 

As she neared the source, she heard a loud clap and looked around her to see nothing besides all the foliage she was in and the darkening clouds in the sky. She stuck her head out between a pair of bushes and saw two people she recognized standing in the middle of a group of people who seemed to want to be as far away from those two as possible, which was strange because these two people were nice, definitely has warm laps, and would probably even pet her as she took a nap.

What confused her now, though, was the short-haired one was attacking the other one, while the other one was just protecting herself. She sat there watching the 'dance' confused as to what was going on. Nice people with warm laps shouldn't be fighting each other. They should get along and pet her as she fell asleep in one of their laps. Warm laps and hands were definitely better than cold, hard ground. Unless it was in the sun. And then a warm lap in the warm sun would be heaven.

She noticed the long-haired girl look at her startled, causing her to get hit square in the jaw by the short-haired girl. Actually, the long-haired girl looked worried too. She didn't want to fight? Was she asking for help? She must be.

The short haired girl leapt at the other girl and Neko-Ranma leapt at her. The fight was over. She didn't want either of them to be hurt and she could tell the short-haired girl could take being shoved down out of the air. Plus the long-haired girl looked hurt.

Pouncing off the now grounded Akane, Neko-Ranma landed on Ukyo, who in turn landed on the ground with the cat-like girl in her lap, stunned.

Neko-Ranma looked up at her worriedly and noted the bruise forming. She raised her head up to lick it to soothe the girl, but it didn't seem to help. After a few seconds had passed with no response, she pressed her lips against the girl's. That caused the girl to stir and Neko-Ranma thought she was going to be pet now, so laid back down to take her nap.

* * *

Akane was confused to say the least. First she was pounding on that chef bitch and managed to get a good shot in on her face as something distracted her. Her own fault for being distracted in a fight. But then as she was bearing down on her, something hit her from behind and slammed her into the ground, not that she was hurt by it. That bitch must have gotten Shampoo here as backup, just in case. 

She pushed up off the ground with a growl and looked up. And then froze. Only a few meters in front of her was Ranma, still in female form, and he was kissing Ukyo! That perverted bastard!

She rose to a standing position silently as mallet-sama appeared in her hand. She stepped forward and raised the oversized mallet to strike down the pervert and swung. The mallet caught a surprised Neko-Ranma right in the head and continued to follow through, sending her flying into the air. The sheer force of the strike sent Ukyo rolling on the ground for a second.

Justice having been served, mallet-sama disappeared and Akane turned and started walking away. The whore and chef bitch could HAVE the pervert.

* * *

Neko-Ranma flew uncontrolled into the air, straight for one of the storm clouds. She was yowling the entire way up, wondering just exactly what happened. 

The moment she broke into the cloud cover, the first bolt hit, altering her trajectory deeper into the cloud where more and more jolts singed her and ate at her clothing and nervous system. Her yowls of pain turned into high-pitched screams, then back to yowls, then to screams again, shifting back and forth.

Jolt after jolt struck her, bouncing her around the interior of the storm cloud until one final shock sapped her of her consciousness, sending her flying out of the cloud at an even greater speed than she had entered.

* * *

On the ground, Ukyo was wincing with each scream that echoed down from above. If she didn't know that Ranma had just been launched into that cloud, she would have sworn the gods were crying out in anguish. She watched in horror as the cloud flashed with each internal lightning bolt before a final, brighter flash within the cloud ended the screaming. She watched in horror for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for whatever remained of the man she loved to fall back to earth from the heavens. 

Eternity passed.

And another eternity passed, and still nothing fell as Ukyo's mind kicked back into gear. There was only one thought in her head as she stood and drew her battle spatula off her back. Akane had just killed Ranma... and she was going to pay.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hello readers! I hope you like how I have started this story and will continue to read it when I post the next chapter. No, Ranma isnt dead and i really dont plan on this being a darkfic or anything like that. Infact this is probably going to be the darkest chapter, and the swearing will most likely be down to a dull roar by the time I touch back with the NWC. 

At the moment I'm still playing around with what relationships will develop between the Nerimans and Hinatans, so don't expect any major romance plot threads soon, though I may put in a few posibilities.

I'm trying to stick as close to manga-cannon on both as possible with both series, atleast until the point of the crossover. About a year has passed overall for the Ranma gang, leaving Ranma a junior. (Thus Kuno and Nabiki are still in the school.)

Cya next chapter! (And please don't kill me, Akane-lovers. This has a very, very, very low chance of a Ranma-Akane pairing.)


	2. 01: A Bolt from the Blue

Storms of Change  
A Ranma ½ / Love Hina crossover  
By: Kiikun

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and did not ask permission for their use. I make no money off of this and have no money to begin with, so suing me won't get you much.

01 – A Bolt from the Blue

* * *

On a small, one-town island in Japan's Okinawa prefecture, Otohime Mutsumi was walking barefoot through the watermelon patch set near the back of her family's property. She wore a sun bonnet and a dress with the skirt pulled up to her knees from its normal angle length. She had her hair tied in twin loose braids tied high near the back of her head. 

Nearby, her younger twin sisters, Akari and Kagari, were playing with the family dog, Pochi. They both wore identical simple light tan dresses. Their hair was wild and short, not reaching past their shoulders, and had twin 'antennae' like their eldest sister's.

Mutsumi was tending to her watermelons while watching them. She was surprised when Akari called out to her.

"Oneechan, what's that?" Akari asked as she pointed past her in the direction of the distant storm clouds.

"It's just a storm, Akari," Mutsumi said to her with a smile. "No need to worry about it. It won't be coming this way."

"No, no, Oneechan, not the storm, that other thing," she said waving her arm around while still pointing at it.

She took a bit longer looking this time, and noticed something falling from the sky. It took a moment, but she was able to recognize it as a person very high in the air.

"It looks like a skydiver," she said after a moment.

"What's that?" Kagari asked from her spot on the ground where she was petting Pochi.

Mutsumi looked thoughtful for a second. "A person who likes to jump out of planes and fall back to the earth. They wear backpacks that let out a big cloth that slows them down before they hit the ground."

After a minute, Akari spoke up again. "When do they let that big cloth out?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Mutsumi said to the kids watching the person in the sky as she turned to look up herself. She noted how close the person was coming and idly thought they should have released the chute by now. As her eyes refocused, she noticed the person didn't even have a parachute!

She spun around and glanced over the area. "Akari, Kagari, get behind that tree with Pochi! Now!" she said in panic as she moved behind another tree herself while the twins scampered to theirs with Pochi close behind.

The moment the girls got behind their tree, the 'skydiver' crashed into the ground where they had just been playing and kicked up a large cloud of dirt that hid the sight from view.

Mutsumi waved the children back as she approached the newly-formed crater, afraid of what she would find. The wind was slowly blowing the dirt-cloud away as it settled back down. In the darkness, she began to see a mass of red which caused her to pale. As more light filtered into the area it revealed that the red was not blood, as she thought it was, but hair.

Resisting the urge to let her body shut down from the shock of the sight, she stepped towards the crater to check on the person. The person, a girl, was still in one piece, but what wasn't already buried was naked and burned badly in some manner. It wasn't fire burns, Mutsumi knew that much, but they looked bad. She checked for a pulse at her wrist and was surprised to find it there and still strong.

Turning to her sisters, who were standing back far enough to not be able to see into the crater, she told them to go to the house and tell Ojiisan that the girl needed to get to the hospital quickly, and to bring a blanket. As the girls and Pochi ran to the house, Mutsumi started digging the girl out.

Mutsumi was pulling the girl out of the hole when Ojiisan, Akari, Kagari, and Nanami, her second eldest younger sister, came running back with the cart in tow behind Ojiisan. Nanami twin ponytails ran up behind her as she ran up with the blanket and covers the naked redhead. A quick lift onto the cart and they were off to the hospital.

* * *

The hospital was not exactly a large building by any standard. It was only two stories high and footing no larger than the average high school. In fact, the building had once been a school decades ago, but population growth left it unable to serve its purpose and a newer school was built elsewhere, so it was renovated to be used as the 'new' hospital.

A doctor was waiting for them when the reached the main entrance, thanks to a quick phone call from the Otohime matriarch, Natsumi, and they quickly moved the unconscious redhead from the cart to an awaiting stretcher. The doctor rushed with the girl to an examining room while everyone else waited in the lobby.

Ojiisan had to leave before the doctor came back out, and took the cart with him. When the doctor finally did emerge from the examination room, he looked over at them worriedly for a moment before smiling.

"She's stable and resting for now," he said as they approached within hearing range. He turned to Mutsumi, "Can you tell me what happened to the young lady and what you know about her?"

"We don't know who she is, she just fell out of the sky on us," Mutsumi said. "We got her here as quickly as possible."

"Hmm," the doctor mumbled while rubbing his chin absentmindedly. "Not that I doubt you, Mutsumi-chan, but you are sure she fell out of the sky and not a tree?"

"She fell from way, way up!" Akari said while waiving her hands in the air as a representation. "Way higher than the trees. Maybe she fell from the clouds?"

He looked at the young girl momentarily before giving Mutsumi a questioning glance, who in turn nodded. "Well," he said with a sigh, "she doesn't appear to have any injuries from that. A lot of burned skin, probably electrical burns, but nothing critical. Though I really can't explain what caused so many burns like that on her. She also appeared to have had a hit to her head, a hard one, but it didn't look like there was any bone damage, just bruising."

The twins looked at the doctor questioningly. They didn't understand much of what he said besides 'she was burned and hit her head, but didn't break anything'.

"Skydiving Oneechan is going to be ok?" Kagari looked up to the doctor worriedly.

"That's what he said," Nanami answered for the doctor. "But how long will she be recovering?"

The doctor rubbed his chin in thought again. "Maybe... a month or two for the burns to heal completely. I still want to X-ray her, incase she has any minor bone fractures, but that would mean a trip to the mainland hospitals and I would rather wait until tomorrow to take her there. Right now she needs rest."

"We'll be allowed to visit her, right?" the eldest of the quartet asked.

"Unless the girl's family expressly forbids it, in this case, I don't see a problem."

The four girls bowed to the doctor and thanked him before they headed back home.

Back home, Mutsumi found Ojiisan out at the crater, trying to fill it up as to not be a lawn hazard anymore.

* * *

The next morning, the doctor walked into his newest redheaded patient's room to prepare her for the trip across the ferry to one of the mainland hospitals. He was surprised when he actually looked at her and thought the lights or his eyes were playing tricks on him. Had her burns not been as bad as he first thought?

After a quick re-examination, he noticed that almost all the burns were healing at a much faster rate than normal. Also that bruise on the girl's head now looked more like she had just bumped her head on something instead of the baseball bat strike it had looked like.

He shook his head in confusion. No one should be able to heal as fast as the girl before him was, it was just impossible. Yet, here before him she lay. Her burns would be gone by the end of next week at the rate she was healing, probably sooner too.

* * *

Later that day, Mutsumi, Nanami, and the twins went to visit the girl they had rushed there the day before. After checking in with the duty nurse, they went straight to her room.

They were only there a few minutes before the doctor came in to speak to them.

"You've undoubtedly noticed how much better she looks," he said as he entered the room.

"Yeah! Whatever medicine you're giving her must be good!" Nanami exclaimed after having looked over the girl's burns and comparing them to what she saw yesterday.

The doctor sighed. "I have given her no medication yet," he said to the confused expressions of the older two. "Somehow, she's healing this fast on her own."

"How is that possible?" Mutsumi asked.

"I've talked with some colleagues, and given her muscle tone," he said gesturing to the girl, "she must be some kind of martial artist. They said they usually only saw 'advanced natural healing' like hers among martial artists and other people who get harmed often."

"Maybe she wasn't as injured as we thought?" Nanami asked.

The doctor shook his head. "No, she was as injured as I first said, probably worse before she landed in your yard. I couldn't find a single broken bone, and she didn't appear to have a concussion."

"How long skydiving Oneechan going to have to stay here?" Akari asked.

"Probably after she wakes up," he said smiling down at the twins, who in turn smiled back up at him.

"And when will that be?" Natsumi asked.

"That, I don't know," he sighed. "At the rate she's healing though, I hope before the end of the week."

Mutsumi nodded. "We will keep visiting, but can you call us when she wakes? I don't think she would like to be surrounded by only medical staff," she said with a smile.

"I shall," he said.

The Otohimes stayed a few more minutes before heading home.

* * *

Two days later shortly after noon, the phone at the Otohime residence rang. There were only three people in the house at the moment. One was sleeping away the day as usual and another was busy studying in her room. That left the third to answer it.

"Moshi Moshi, Otohime Natsumi speaking," she happily greeted the caller.

"Greetings, Otohime-san. The doctor told me to call and tell you that Akage-chan has woken up," the nurse said with a hint of happiness and worry.

"Akage-chan? So that is her name. Have you contacted her family as well?"

"Ah... um... Actually, we don't know her name," she said worriedly. "That's just the name we call her around the offices because of her hair. We didn't like calling her 'that girl in 118'."

Actually, the nurse that had given her a sponge bath had nicknamed her that after finding out the hair color was definitely natural. She had used lukewarm water because the girl's burns hadn't healed yet and she didn't want to aggravate them.

"Ok, thank you. I will tell my daughters," she said moments before hanging up.

Natsumi walked across the house to Mutsumi's room and knocked on the frame.

"Yes?" Mutsumi called out from inside.

Natsumi opened the door to find her eldest daughter sitting at the low table and surrounded by the usual pile of watermelons.

"The hospital just called. Our little unexpected guest has woken up," she said with a smile as Mutsumi stood up.

"Ara ara! She must be feeling better now. Maybe I should bring her a watermelon or three," she said as she clasped her hands together with a huge smile on her face.

Natsumi went back to hanging the laundry as Mutsumi collected a few watermelons to bring to the hospitalized girl.

* * *

Mutsumi had just arrived at the hospital when the nurses held her up from going to 'Akage's' room. They asked her to wait in the lobby for the doctor to come and explain the situation to her, which confused her that the nurses couldn't do it. The doctor came after a few minutes.

"Mutsumi-chan," the doctor said as he sat down across from her looking worried. "There has been a... complication with the girl."

"What's wrong with her?" she asked, now mirroring his worried expression.

"Amnesia," he said with a sigh. "She doesn't remember who she is, where she lives, or anything to help identify her. The bruise on her head when she came may have been the cause, or it may have been the electrical burns overloaded her nervous system and caused the memory loss," he sighed.

"She's going to get her memories back though, right?"

"We don't know when, or even if, she will. I called for a neurologist to come and look at her, but he won't be here until the day after tomorrow. The reason I wanted to talk to you first was because we don't want to stress her too hard yet. She needs a friend right now more than a doctor, and I was thinking that you and your siblings could be that."

Mutsumi smiled at him. "I would be glad to. I think Na-chan and the twins will as well."

The doctor nods and stands, holding a hand out for Mutsumi. "Let's go see her, Mutsumi-chan. I told her the nurses have been calling her 'Akage', but she doesn't seem to like the name."

They entered the room and Mutsumi walked over to the confused redhead and smiled.

"Hello," Mutsumi said with a smile.

"Are you another doctor?" the girl said worriedly.

"No, I am not. You dropped in on me and my sisters and we brought you here."

The redhead looked curiously at Mutsumi for a moment before asking, "Do you know who I am?"

She looked down at the redhead with a sad smile before hugging her gently. "I'm sorry. The doctor told me you didn't like the name 'Akage'."

The redhead hugged her back, albeit nervously for some reason.

"Is there a name you want to go by?"

She shook her head. "I want to know my real name, but my head hurts each time I try to remember anything."

"Don't force yourself. You'll remember sooner or later," she said with a smile after pulling away. "I forget lots of things, often!" she giggled.

She looked at the older girl for a moment before laughing herself.

Mutsumi smiled as the girl laughed. She really needed it right now. "How about I come back later with my sisters and we can fix your hair? Maybe we can even make up a name you'll like to use until you remember your own." she smiled.

"My hair?" she asked as she reached around to pull some loose hair into her field of vision. Her hair barely reached past her shoulders now and the ends were all dark from having been burned. While examining her hair with her hands, she did find a small amount that was still long enough to put back in the pigtail she used to wear, not that she remembered it, but it was still singed badly. She looked up at Mutsumi, scared. "What happened to me?"

She held the girl's trembling hand "You were burned by something. I don't know how much the doctor wants me to tell you, so I think you should ask him. But your fine now," she smiled and firmed her grip to reassure the redhead.

Mutsumi left shortly after because she had to meet her siblings after school. She gave the girl the watermelons she brought, much to the girl's confusion as what to do with them.

* * *

Mutsumi returned awhile later with Nanami, the twins, and her mother. Ojiisan was still at home watching Tamami, Tsukumo, and Pokari making sure they stayed out of trouble, Tsukumo especially. He had a knack of causing trouble.

After the introductions, and a quieting down of the twins, Natsumi and Nanami started working on the redhead's hair. They decided to cut it short and abandon the burned parts. In the end, she had a hairstyle similar to the twins, including the 'antennae'.

"Oooooh! You look so cute!" Natsumi gushed as she hugged the redhead while said girl just blushed at the attention and the others laughed.

"Th-Thank you," she said nervously for some reason.

After a bit of idle chatter, Mutsumi thought of something. "Have you remembered or decided on a name?" she asked.

The redhead fidgeted a moment before shaking her head.

"How about 'Akage' because of your hair?" Akari asked.

Nanami sighed. "The nurses are already calling her that and she doesn't like it. How about 'Nanashi'? I think it sounds cute," she said with a grin.

Natsumi looked at her third daughter questioningly. "You want to name the poor girl 'nameless', Na-chan?"

"I just thought it sounded cute," Nanami pouted.

Mutsumi taped her chin for a moment while thinking. "How about 'Mei'?"

Natsumi looked at the redhead and smiled. "Actually, I think 'Ikumi' fits her better. Do you like that one?"

She sat there and mouthed the name for a moment before she smiled. "I think I like that one. Better to be searching than 'lost', right?" Ikumi smiled.

"Wai! Ikumi-neechan!" the twins squeeled as they hoped up on the bed and hugged the newly named girl, who was just startled by the outburst. After a moment she smiled and hugged the girls back.

She looked up from the twins to the eldest Otohime. "Thank you, Otohime-san," she smiled.

Natsumi smiled back. "It's actually time for us to leave. I'll speak to the doctor about letting Mutsumi-chan bring you some food. I know the food they serve here isn't exactly delectable."

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Nerima, darkness had settled on the ward. Everyone had heard of that the Tendo heir has done to her fiancé, and in turn what the okonomiyaki chef had done to her. Akane was still in a nearby hospital, sporting a number of scars and a badly broken arm currently in a cast. No one has any idea what happened to Ranma afterwards though. Some are adamant that he's still alive somewhere, while others are saying the storm probably vaporized him.

Kuno has been parading around claiming that he defeated the 'vile sorcerer'. Ukyo disappeared the day after the storm and Konatsu was now running Ucchan. Kodachi had not left the Kuno Mansion since she heard the news, but her dear brother would only say that she was 'overcoming the spells the sorcerer placed on her.'

The Tendo Dojo was filled with mixed emotions. Soun was wailing about his baby girl getting hurt and that the schools wouldn't be joined. Genma was complaining about his cowardly 'weak girl' of a son. Akane's sisters were disgusted with her. They knew the couple had arguments, and that Akane was less that forgiving with him, but she had most likely just killed him. Nabiki had said so, quite loudly, to her the one time she visited the hospital. Nodoka, though, was oddly quiet and rarely left her room. She had said a few times that her son was unmanly for not returning, but to Nabiki it sounded weak and strained.

Nabiki had contacted the police to put a missing persons report in. She knew something was wrong since Ranma hadn't returned within the day, and they had better resources for finding someone than she did. The only odd thing she told them was that she only wanted them to contact her or Kasumi when they found him, not bring him home or tell anyone else. Surprisingly, they agreed to that, having heard the rumors about town about the household.

The Nekohanten wasn't much quieter. The moment she heard about what Akane did, she had grabbed her sword from her room and was about to 'get rid of the obstacle' when her great grandmother knocked her out with a few pressure points. Cologne thought it better to wait a bit longer before letting the girl carry out the widow's rights, and then it would be best to kidnap Akane and take them all back to the village. Mousse was left to take the brunt of her aggression for the moment. She had threatened to stir-fry him, seriously.

* * *

Author's Notes: Thank you everyone that reviewed. I really didn't want to touch back with the NWC as soon as I have, and didn't really have enough space to do anything justice, so please forgive the hyper-compressed bit of Nerima. I also didn't really want to get to the naming this soon either. I was hoping to get Ideas from all of you, but I had to run with it since I wanted to get that done before Nerima. Originally I wanted to end it with Ranma asking a nurse "Who am I?" or something similarly cliché-ish / cliffhangy, but the pixies and imps wouldn't let me. Oh well.

As I said in the prologue's author's notes, I have no definite romantic pairings or anything yet regarding them. I'm only leaving the doors open for most and closing ones I know I wont use (Ranma/Akane Ranma/Shampoo). The situation with Ukyo is simply because I think she's smart enough to have realized after the disaster they made of the wedding, and the stories she heard about the battle with Saffron, that Akane had 'won'. She didn't want to just leave her with him though because of how Akane acts. Ukyo was trying to play a calming force between them instead of the instigator she was before. I might write a side story or something about the months leading up to this, but it's not priority at the moment.

RubberNeck: Actually, I think I overdid Akane a bit, but it was needed. I'm by no means an Akane fan, but some of the ogre-Akanes out there just overdo it by miles. The 'kind' Akane will be in this story too, but there was no reason for it in the prologue. I mean, come on, she mallets him for even the littlest things and walks off in a huff. Here she thinks something major happened and has basically blown a mental fuse. And I've got a few ideas on what to do to Akane. (note: Amazon 'Widow's Rights'… and you thought the Kiss of Death was bad evil grin)

**_Post-Post Note:_** I removed this earlier, but after RubberNeck's question, I thought it should be cleared up. At the moment Ranma/Ikumi is already in the manga-cannon Love Hina storyline, just that (s)he is there with Mutsumi while she's gone from Hinata (and thus the main LH storyline) for months. I've purposely timed it to be August 1999 because Mutsumi returns back to Hinata in November. Not really a spoiler, but Ranma/Ikumi will be going with her and that's when the main LH cast comes into play (and when the doors open for the NWC to stumble across him evil grin)

Otohimes by Age (manga-cannon):  
Natsumi (, mother of 8)  
Mutsumi (21, eldest daughter)  
Chinami (, didn't see in manga)  
Nanami (, high-tied ponytails on both sides of head)  
Tamami (9-10, appears year later in 5th grade)  
Tsukuro (8-9, appears year later in 4th grade, eldest and only son)  
Akari and Kagari (, twins)  
Pokari (, description for her said 'always sleeping')

Thanks to the people of Shinji's Sharing for helping me pre-read.   
MGsaintz (for being my personal idea-board, you get top billing :P)   
Shadowbakasama   
Diablo

And thanks to everyone that reviewed. Please keep reading and reviewing and I'll keep the ideas flowing. (I was seriously giddy when you all reviewed so quickly.)


	3. 02: Concealing Clouds and Revealing Rain

Storms of Change  
A Ranma ½ / Love Hina crossover  
By: Kiikun

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and did not ask permission for their use. I make no money off of this and have no money to begin with, so suing me won't get you much.

02 – Concealing Clouds and Revealing Rains

* * *

Three days have passed since Ikumi woke up. Mutsumi, Nanami, and the twins still visited every day. Mutsumi knew how lonely and boring hospitals could be from the times she had to stay in them. Nanami was curious about the redhead and thought the girl would need a friend closer to her own age, even if the redhead was definitely a few years older than her. Akari and Kagari just liked playing with her. They thought Ikumi acted strange sometimes, and that's saying something considering just who their mother and siblings are.

The neurologist had shown up just before noon the day before and was done after about two hours. After double-checking his findings, he returned to her room to find Mutsumi and her mother waiting with 'Ikumi', as he learned she was being called. Looking the trio over a moment, he sighed and addressed the redhead.

"I don't think your amnesia is permanent, but your type is one of the more unpredictable ones that I know of. That hit to the head your file states wasn't the direct cause, but may have made it worse than it would have. Whatever caused your burns... well," he said while scratching at his temple while thinking of the best way to describe this.

"What about them?" Natsumi urged the specialist on after a moment.

With a sigh, he continued. "You know what happens to electronics with a power surge? Something similar happened to her," he said glancing to Ikumi, who just looked confused. "Right now, the best way to describe it is that your memories are scrambled like a jigsaw puzzle, and because of that you can't remember anything about yourself. Impersonal facts are going to be easier to remember since you'll only need to hear part of them, but since your personal memories are... well... personal, they are going to be a bit harder to recover, if at all. My best advice is to try and find something to help jog your lost memories. Simply being around your family or hometown should be enough to get most of you memories back, but like I said, I'm not even sure how much or how long it will take."

"So, I have to find out who I am **to** find out who I am?" Ikumi asked, looking confused and depressed.

He nodded in reply. "Though you'll probably start to recognize places or maybe even people first."

Mutsumi leaned over and hugged the distraught redhead. "Don't worry. We'll help," she smiled.

The redhead nodded and hesitantly hugged the older girl back.

Natsumi just smiled at her daughter and Ikumi, and then walked out of the room with the neurologist. She had some business to talk to the other doctor about.

* * *

At the moment, Ikumi was just sitting in her room, reading some mangas the girls had brought with them yesterday to give her something to do besides just sit there bored, and maybe she had read them before and they might jog a memory or something. They didn't know of any instant memory restoration pills or techniques, so they were all trying anything they could think of without stressing her out. At the moment she was reading a Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon volume and was not very impressed by it. Not that it was bad; she just liked that Slayers one better. Plus the girl's hair just looked silly.

When the nurse brought in her lunch, she was surprised to hear that Natsumi had visited earlier, but only talked with the doctor about something. The nurse left after dropping off the food, but Ikumi was too nervous to even eat. 'Do they know? Are they just going to leave me here?' she thought dejectedly as she curled up in a sitting position, hugging her legs. 'Please, Kami-sama. I don't want to be left alone like this...'

A few hours later, Mutsumi was knocked to the floor by a red blur when she opened the door to Ikumi's room. She looked down to see the redhead latched tightly around her waist with her face in her abdomen. "Ara! Is something wrong, Ikumi-chan?" Mutsumi asked as she gently hugged the girl.

After a minute, Ikumi sat back and quickly wiped her face on the sleeve of the hospital gown she wore. "I- I'm just glad to see you!" she said while laughing nervously and idly scratching at the base of her skull. She looked around and saw Nanami, Akari, Kagari, and young boy she hadn't met before standing around her. "Um... let's go into my room. It's better than standing around out here, ne?" she said as she rushed back into the room. The others followed afterwards.

The twins had climbed up on the bed with her, as usual, while Mutsumi, Nanami, and the boy were sitting in nearby chairs. She looked questioningly at him for a moment before Mutsumi spoke.

"That's our brother, Tsukuro," she said with a smile.

"Hey," he greeted with a not-exactly friendly smile.

"Be careful around him, Ikumi-neechan. He's a big meanie!" Akari warned.

"Quiet, ya little runt," he said to her, causing both twins to stick their tongues out at him. That, in turn, caused Nanami to sigh and both Mutsumi and Ikumi to laugh. "Argh, fine! Whatever! I only came here to see the comet that put a hole in our back yard anyway."

Ikumi just looked at him questioningly again as Mutsumi lightly hit him on the back of the head. "I told you she doesn't remember that and that we haven't told her yet," she chided her mouthy little brother, and then turned to the confused redhead. "I'm sorry. We didn't want to tell you yet because we didn't want to scare you."

"I put a hole in your yard?" she asked confusedly.

"A crater, actually," Nanami spoke up. "I wasn't actually there, but we had to drag you out of it."

"Oneechan thought you were a skydiver, but then told us to hide just before you hit the ground," Kagari said while hugging the girl's arm.

"You fell from way, way up!" Akari said, repeating the hand motions she made a week previous to a similar statement.

Ikumi had a worried and confused look on her face when Mutsumi reached out and placed a hand on hers. "You're ok now, so everything's alright. We can worry about these things later," Mutsumi said with a smile.

After a moment Ikumi smiled back. "Yeah, you're right."

Tsukuro had left to get himself a drink when the conversation had dropped to manga-chatter. He had seen what some his sisters liked and mostly stayed away from it. Only Tamami had even a few he liked.

He returned to see his mother and a doctor approaching the room just ahead of him. He just continued his pace and reached the room just as his mother began to speak.

"Shall we all go home now?" Natsumi said with a bright smile.

"But Okaasan, we just got here," Akari whined while grabbing onto Ikumi's arm. Kagari was still hanging off the other.

"Ara?" Natsumi said and tilted her head sideways while putting a finger to her chin. "Did I say anyone was staying behind?"

Mutsumi smiled while the other four young girls in the room just looked at Natsumi confused.

The doctor cleared his throat before speaking. "There's no more reason to keep you as an in-house patient, and Natsumi-san has offered to take you in."

Ikumi and Nanami just blinked a moment before both nearly shouted "Eh!"

The twins started trying to drag their new older sister out of bed while cheering.

"B- but, the hospital bill," Nanami started to say, wondering just how costly this girl's stay had been compared to her eldest sister's.

Natsumi just kept smiling. "Is all paid for by the family health plan."

"But, how?" Ikumi asked. "Not that I'm ungrateful or anything!" She was definitely grateful. Even with her mind as it is, she knew few people had been as kind to her as they had been.

"I've talked to a few officials and explained the situation to them. They said that until you can remember who you are or that your family finds you, that you can be placed as a temporary ward under my care," she smiled and mentally patted herself on the back for the idea. At least this way the girl wouldn't be sent off to foster families until she recovered.

"Aw, geez! Isn't 7 sisters enough!" Tsukuro grumbled loudly.

The twins continued trying to pull the slightly shocked redhead out of bed. "Come on, Ikumi-neechan! Let's go home and play!"

Mutsumi giggled as she walked to the twins and dislodged them from the girl. She whispered something to both of them, which caused them to grin and run out of the room. She then handed her a small package that no one had noticed before. "You should get dressed. You wouldn't want to be walking around outside in that now, would you?"

Ikumi just blinked, nodded, and accepted the package as Nanami and the rest exited, followed shortly by Mutsumi. What she found inside was a full set of clothing, including undergarments. It took her a minute to get the bra and panties on comfortably. She kept shifting them around because they felt odd on her, but she pushed the feeling aside as she got used to wearing them and assumed it was a symptom of the memory loss and wearing nothing but a hospital gown for at least a week.

The dress was simple as well. It was a light blue slip-on dress with a hint of a floral pattern in the way the light hit it. She looked at herself and cringed for a moment. 'Yep, I don't think this is the kind of thing I used to wear,' she thought and sighed as she stepped to the door, carrying all the mangas she had now in the cloth wrapping the clothes had been in.

"Arara! You just look so adorable in that!" Natsumi gushed and hugged her as Mutsumi smiled at her choice in outfits. Indeed, Ikumi looked gorgeous in the dress; it even matched her eye-color.

Ikumi just turned red from embarrassment, but endured it until the woman released her. "C-can we go... home?" she said, hesitating with the last word. It felt like an odd word for her, like it was a place she hadn't been to in a long time.

Natsumi smiled and they all headed to the Otohime household together.

* * *

When they arrived, Mutsumi held Ikumi back, smiling while saying "We need to wait just a few moments."

The redhead just looked at her confused, with a hint of worry. 'Have they changed their minds about this?' she though to herself, making her even more scared.

Natsumi came back to the doorway with a smile and waved them both in after a few minutes. What Ikumi saw inside surprised her.

In the living room stood Nanami, Akari, Kagari, an older man, and two younger girls all smiling and cheering in unison. "Okaeri nasai, Ikumi-chan/neechan/san!" Tsukuro was there as well, but was not joining in the cheer.

Ikumi froze. The greeting felt almost as distant to her as the word 'home' had felt, like it was one she never really heard used for her. After a moment tears began to fill her eyes and she smiled brilliantly. "Tadaima," she said hoarsely as the twins ran up and resumed their earlier places on her arms as a few of the others laughed.

* * *

The little welcoming party went on for about an hour before Natsumi called for its end. She asked everyone to sit across from Ikumi so she could formally introduce everyone.

"First. You've already met my eldest daughter, Mutsumi," Natsumi started while Mutsumi just smiled. "She's 22 years old."

"Next, my third daughter, Nanami," she said while Nanami waved. "She's 12."

"My fourth daughter, Tamami," she said, gesturing to the girl with shorts and a t-shirt sitting with her arms crossed. Her hairstyle was similar to the twins', but lacked the antennae that they had. "She's 10, and a bit of a tomboy."

"Okaasan!" Tamami yelled. "Excuse me for liking sports more than playing with dolls," she huffed eliciting a giggle from Mutsumi.

Natsumi just smiled and continued. "Tsukuro, my eldest and only son. Age 9."

Tsukuro just yawned in reply.

"The twins; Akari and Kagari, age 7," she said gesturing to the two girls.

"And over on the couch," she gestured to the little girl, sleeping on said furniture. "Is my baby girl, Pokari."

"Pokari the Sloth," Tsukuro snickered, granting him a forced faceplant to the tatami mats, courtesy of Tamami.

"I **told** you to stop calling her that!" she growled at her younger brother.

"OK! OK! Just let me up! Geez," he said while rubbing his nose.

Akari and Kagari had moved over to Ikumi's sides, again, during the little confrontation. "See? Told ya Oniichan was a meanie," Akari said, with a sagely nod from Kagari.

Natsumi just tsked at Tsukuro's words before continuing. "My second daughter, Chinami, is going to high school in Tokyo and living with friends there. She's 17. And lastly is my father-in-law," she said, gesturing to the old man who had just walked back into the room after throwing out the bulk of the party's garbage.

"Tsukigami Akira," he said with a bow, and then smiled. "I am glad you are well, Ikumi-chan."

Ikumi bowed back. "Thank you, Tsukigami-san." She then bowed deeply to everyone in the room. "Thank you all for taking me into your home."

Mutsumi stood up with a smile. "And now it's time for the grand tour!" she cheered as she and the twins lead their new, temporary sister around the house.

* * *

Back in Nerima, a full week had passed with no sign of Ranma. Many still held the belief he was vaporized by the storm. The ones that believed he had survived were split between 'he's injured' and 'he's **finally** run away'.

The odd, unpredictable rains that seemed to permeate the ward had picked up in frequency since then, much to the chagrin of the remaining cursed individuals in said ward.

With no one in the school able to stand up to Kuno, his ramblings continued on and on until he had to stop to breathe. By the third day of this, people were running the opposite direction and taking alternate routes whenever they saw him. The only one able to shut him up for any length of time was Nabiki, who would only sell him pictures at three times the price and only after he'd shut his mouth for a full hour. The kendoist, now lacking actually seeing his loves in person, gladly complied.

Kodachi, on the other hand, was a complete wreck. She had finally emerged from her room after a week to go to school. She was literally shaking the entire time and was barely able to pay attention to her surroundings. After falling out of her chair in class for the third time, they sent her off to the nurse, who said she was suffering from withdrawal and sent her to the same hospital where Akane was staying. Neither of them knew that fact though.

Speaking of the Tendo heiress, she was still bedridden in the hospital. Most of her lesser scars had healed over completely, leaving her with her arm in a cast, and two still healing legs. Ukyo had broken her arm in several places and it would take months to heal properly before they could remove the cast. Her legs, though, were her own fault. Ukyo had managed to get a strong hit on her with that giant spatula while she was airborne that was what first broke her arm and then sent her flying towards a wall. She got the stupid idea in her head that she could do whatever Ranma had and tried to rebound off the wall with her legs. The plan was shot when she hit too stiffly and almost crippled herself. At the moment they were only badly strained and had minor fractures that would heal naturally, but only if she stayed off them.

The physical pain, though, wasn't the worse part for her. After her 'Ice Queen' sister had nearly bit her head off the one time she visited, she had been forced to realize Ranma hadn't, and probably wouldn't return. That she had probably killed her fiancée and had no one to blame but herself. That thought alone hurt more than her arm thrice over, and all she could do about it was cry; for Ranma, and for her own stupidity.

Kasumi had seen her crying during her daily visits, but had said nothing. Akane deserved to suffer this pain alone. She wasn't trying to be cruel, but this was possibly the best way to help her sister. She had tried to be a surrogate mother after their own mother died, but she was too young to know what to do and had failed quite miserably.

She, herself, had failed to grow up properly as well. While she was trying to fit into her mother's shoes, Nabiki had somehow learned to comfort herself with money, and Akane never had a proper role model or parent to guide her and had grown up with only her emotions as a guide. Their father had taken their mother's death the worse though. Kasumi didn't understand it, but she had overheard a few of her father's late night ramblings shortly after her mother's death. "Again. I've failed my family again," he would repeat over and over between sobs. She still didn't understand what it meant, but never asked.

Nabiki had been watching everyone around her like a hawk since Akane was hospitalized. When Ranma hadn't returned, she smelled something wrong. When she had finally contacted the police on an update about the missing person's report she placed and they said they had nothing yet, she knew something was terribly wrong. The fact the police hadn't even found a body was a good sign in her book. That meant that either Ranma **had** been vaporized, which was unlikely, or he was still alive somewhere.

The other oddities in the area were beginning to concern her too. Ukyo vanishing wasn't exactly unexpected, but was much sooner than she expected. Konatsu was less that helpful with information, having thrown her out of Ucchan's and stated that if Akane even tried to enter, he would do worse than his mistress had. The amazons hadn't attempted anything yet, and she had expected something to happen with Shampoo the day after the event. She could only guess that old hag, Cologne, was thinking along the similar lines she was. She would have to talk to her sooner or later.

The worst, yet most subtle oddity she'd noticed so far was Ranma's mother, Nodoka. She never really paid much heed to the manliness-obsessed woman before, but she was noticing little things wrong with what she had thought of the woman. She was now inseparable from her katana and would often lock herself alone in the room she and her panda of a husband shared in the dojo for hours on end. The first thing that got Nabiki's attention though, was the fact that when Nodoka thought no one was looking, the glare she directed at Genma would have made even Kami-sama himself cringe.

By the end of the week, Nabiki decided to face Nodoka about whatever she was hiding. Secrets in the ward were one thing. Secrets in her own home, Nabiki wouldn't stand. She managed to find Nodoka sitting alone in the dojo, facing the Tendo family shrine that was mounted on the far wall. No one else was at home, so this was the perfect chance.

"Saotome-san," she said flatly as she closed the door behind her.

Nodoka sat in silence for a moment before responding. "What is it, Nabiki?"

She stared at the back of the auburn-haired woman's head. "I want to know the truth."

"The truth?" she asked with an incredulous tone in her voice. "Like the truth about 'Ranko'? The truth about my husband? The truth about how you **all** hid them from me for months?"

"No," she said in her Ice Queen voice. "I want the truth about you. I've seen how you looked at your husband recently."

Nodoka didn't respond and Nabiki quickly grew frustrated.

"It's the contract, right? Ranma's gone and you're going to call the contract down on your husband."

Nodoka still remained silent.

"I really don't care about that idiotic panda; make yourself a panda-skin rug out of him for all I care. Just don't bring it down on Ranma when he comes back."

"I have been contemplating it," Nodoka finally stated just before Nabiki was frustrated enough to storm out. "A rug would be worth more than my husband at the moment. The fact that none of you are carrying my son's child puts him in a position where everything is unclear."

"You're **still** hung up on **grandchildren**! **THAT'S** what this is about!" Nabiki growled out.

Nodoka replied with silence once again.

Nabiki glared at the woman's back. "Saotome Nodoka, I once thought better of you. All you care about is **grandchildren** when your own **SON** may be dead. You're no better than Akane." With that, she stormed out of the room.

After hearing the door slam behind her, Nodoka slumped forward, letting her katana slip from her hand and clatter to the floor as she wiped the flowing tears from her face. "May the kami forgive me," she whispered to herself as she finally let herself break down in muffled sobs.

* * *

Author's Notes: And here's the second chapter! I got on a roll with the Nerima section and ended up ending the chapter with it, again.

Rionach, Slade13: the curse hasn't changed at all. Just a bit of 'chaos overload' has given Ranma a reprieve from the water magnet part of the curse for now.

Wonderbee31: I don't plan on messing with the Keitaro-Naru pairing... yet. Plans can always change. Naru really is better than Akane once she's calm. I think it would take a horse tranquilizer to 'calm' Akane.

Jerry: Thanks :3 You mean the story name? I was racking my brain for weeks before it popped up. Originally was gonna call it 'A Bolt from the Blue' (01's title), but knew that didn't sound as good as it could have.

DarkHeart: Actually, I have plans for Ranma/Ikumi and Mutsumi that will start showing up in the next few chapters. And I've only seen her kiss Keitaro and Naru, claiming to have only been a tool for them to share a kiss.

KaOn Kai: I've read a bit of it now. I don't plan on the permanent amnesia route that that story takes.

Sekikage: Akane IS a pain, and I think there are enough fics out there that mess Akane's personality up both ways. She is human, just unbalanced badly. I didn't want a demon-Akane or an angel-Akane, just a human Akane with human problems. I may even expand on her too, or an after-fic/sidestory.

Hiryo: Ranma crashed down completely naked. Maybe I should have made that clearer. My story-notes had only the elastic of the boxers remaining, but that never found a clean place to be inserted. It (the reference and the elastic) went in the garbage. The blanket was to keep the perverted old men from ogling the comatose redhead.

Trugeta: I don't think Akane ever was really observant, so that's how I portrayed her. And she had was really in a berserker-rage while fighting Ukyo, so seeing Neko-Ranma cat-kissing Ukyo made her totally lose it. I think a few demons were nearby admiring their handiwork. Ukyo's attack on Akane was simply grief-fed. As this chapter shows, Nerima's becoming a nice little hellhole for the NWC. The martial arts question should be answered in the next chapter, if I don't put too much before it that is.

ss4-link: Ranma's memory will return, slowly, but it will come back fully. And I have plans for the curse's revelations

Thanks to the people of Shinji's Sharing for helping me pre-read.   
MGsaintz (for being my personal idea-board, you get top billing :P)  
Diablo

And thanks to all you who reviewed, I hope I answered your questions and cleared up a few things.


	4. 03: Lightning's Second Strike

Storms of Change  
A Ranma ½ / Love Hina crossover  
By: Kiikun

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and did not ask permission for their use. I make no money off of this and have no money to begin with, so suing me won't get you much.

03 – Lightning's Second Strike

* * *

Ikumi sat on the deck overlooking the sea as she watched the sun set. The twins were worn out by the end of Mutsumi's Grand Tour and had gone to bed. Mutsumi had shown her the entire house and even a few other places on the property. She was surprised to see the half-filled crater that marked her landing point. 'I made that... and survived?' she had asked herself disbelievingly. 

At the moment, she was trying to figure out what she should be doing. Was there anything she could do to recover her memory? No one she had met at the hospital knew who she was, and it seemed like no one in the area did either. She felt like she should be doing something, but didn't know what. Hopefully it would only take time, like the doctors had said.

"Ikumi-chan?" Natsumi called out from the doorway with a smile.

Shaking her head clear of everything she was thinking of, she turned around and faced the Otohime matriarch. "Yes, Otohime-san?"

Natsumi pouted. "You don't need to call me 'Otohime-san', Ikumi-chan. Right now, you're an Otohime too."

Ikumi slumped a bit, realizing she might have inadvertently insulted her savior. "Sorry, Natsumi-san."

She sighed and smiled at the antennaed redhead. "It's ok." Really, she wished the girl would call her 'Okaasan' or 'Natsumi-mama', but wouldn't push her into calling her that. "I was thinking that you'd like to know where you'll be sleeping."

She looked at her quizzically with a slight hint of dread. 'Please, not that room with the frilly bed,' she hoped. "Where?"

With a gesture to follow, she headed in the direction of the rooms of the older girls. Ikumi was confused because she was sure there were no empty rooms this way. "I don't think Chi-chan would mind lending you her room while she's off in Tokyo," Natsumi smiled.

"You mean..." she started saying as they stopped in front of a specific door. "Chinami-san's room?"

Natsumi nodded and smiled. "She shouldn't mind as long as you don't go making a mess out of it."

"I'll do my best to keep it as clean as possible," she said while looking nervously at the door.

"She's left behind some of her clothes so she doesn't have to carry suitcases back when she visits, so you can use her clothes as well if they fit you," she smiled. "That dress you have on now is one of hers."

She looked down at the blue dress and fidgeted with it again. She didn't think it looked bad on her, but she had this weird feeling that someone was going to burst out laughing, or worse. The last though caused her to shudder slightly.

Natsumi noticed the redhead's shudder. "Cold?"

Ikumi shook her head. "I just feel... odd."

With a mental shrug, the homemaker smiled and walked off. "Oyasumi nasai, Ikumi-chan."

"Oyasumi nasai, Natsumi-san," she said as she looked at the door with trepidation again. 'Why do I feel like this?' she asked herself as she slowly reached out to open the door. After taking a deep breath she slid the door open in a single, quick motion and stepped inside.

The moment her foot landed inside the room, she felt like someone was going to leap out of the woodwork and beat her back into a coma. After scanning over the room quickly for any danger, she pushed the feeling away while wondering what it meant as she closed the door behind her.

The room was fairly normal for a girl's room. The bed sheets were blue-green with hot spring turtles printed all over it. There was also a desk, but it was mostly cleared off. Chinami must have taken it all with her, except for a lamp that was still sitting on corner of the desk. There was a bookcase opposite the desk that had three of the shelves nearly full of mangas. The last shelf and the top have stuffed animals in them, more than one looks like the same turtles printed on the bed sheets.

She looked at herself in the full-length mirror mounted to the closet door and shivered again. 'Definitely don't like dresses.' Opening the closet, she found that almost all of Chinami's wardrobe was dresses of one type or another. 'Great,' she though morosely and sighed. "Guess I'll just get used to them," she muttered quietly as she hunted for something to wear to sleep. After a few minutes she managed to find an oversized t-shirt and changed into that, then laid down on the bed.

"Myu." The sound seemed to echo throughout the room.

Ikumi sat up and looked around the room for the source of the sound, not recognizing it as anything. She noticed one of the stuffed turtles had fallen off the bookcase and was in the middle of the floor. 'A squeaky doll?' She got up and grabbed it by the shell and her brow furrowed. "Ok, this is too hard to be a squeaky doll..."

"Myu Myu," the 'doll' nodded.

"GYAAH!" Ikumi, startled, threw it into the air and fell backwards on her rear. The 'doll' just glided over to the desk and turned back to face her with its head tilted questioningly.

Mutsumi opened the door part-way to see Ikumi on the floor. "Something wrong, Ikumi-chan?"

Hearing Mutsumi, she looked over and started pointing wildly at the turtle. "W-w-what is that thing!"

"Myu," said the thing in question, managing to sound hurt by being called a thing.

Following where the redhead was pointing, she saw a slightly dejected looking turtle sitting on the desk. "Ara ara," she smiled. "Hello, Midori-chan."

The turtle raised a flipper. "Myuu."

Ikumi sat there watching the two in complete confusion. Her shock was lost when Mutsumi recognized it and it seemingly greeted her back.

"That's just Midori-chan. Did she startle you?"

Ikumi just stared at the turtle on her desk for a moment before looking back over at Mutsumi. "Just what is she? I thought she was one of the dolls before."

Mutsumi just nodded. "She's a hot spring turtle and she likes sleeping in here," she smiled. "You two are going to be best friends."

"But, I didn't think turtles could fly. I thought they only walked and swam."

"Myuuu myu myuu," Midori glided off the desk and over to land on Mutsumi's shoulder with Ikumi watching her the entire way.

"Young hot spring turtles can fly. I haven't met any other types that can though."

Ikumi sighed and got up off the floor. "Is there anything else I should know?"

Mutsumi put her finger to her chin and thought for a moment. "Hmm, nothing I can think of."

Ikumi shifted her view to the turtle on Mutsumi's shoulder. "And can I go to sleep without getting scared out of my wits again?"

"Myu," Midori nodded, then glided off to one of her sleeping spots.

"Oyasumi, Ikumi-chan," Mutsumi said with a smile as she left the room.

"Oyasumi, Mutsumi-san."

"Myuu myu myu"

"You too, Midori-chan."

* * *

Life with the Otohimes was relatively calm for Ikumi over the next few days. Well, calm taking into account who she had been and the strangeness that surrounds her adoptive family. The morning after meeting Midori, Mutsumi introduced the other two turtles that floated from place to place around the house and yard. Kame and Kinoe were their names. She was surprised she hadn't seen them during the party, considering how often she's seen them around since then. Maybe it was their off day?

The twins often dragged her off to play with them, not that she minded. They usually played tag, hide and seek, or other highly-active games. Those two had energy and endurance that was well above that of normal people. The only people that could actually out-last them were Tamami, thanks to her martial arts, and Ikumi. Tamami had taken note of that and was keeping an eye on her new older sister.

Ikumi had noticed how lethargic Pokari was and started watching over her as she slept the afternoons away. It was a nice, calm time when she could get away from the hyperactive excitable twins and the unpredictability that is Natsumi and Mutsumi and just think about what she was going to do. The doctor said her memories should return, but nearly a week had passed and she hadn't remembered anything beyond a few flashes and a few dreams that didn't tell her much about who she was.

One of the things she's noticed over the week since she awoke was that she was an early waker, but she didn't know why. Each morning she felt like someone would attack her, but it never came. In fact, most of the day she felt like she should be aware of everyone like they were about to try and hurt her and it was only leaving her more and more confused as each day passed. At first, even eating had her on guard and eyeing everyone and their plates for some reason. She had felt she needed to take stock of what everyone had while protecting her own food like some sort of wild animal. She actually had to restrain herself from trying to grab food off other people's plates. The fact she ate like a black hole didn't go down well either. Natsumi had to scold her a few times before that habit was broken. Tamami had taken note of the whole thing as well and it only added to her curiosity about the redhead.

At the moment, she was helping Natsumi cook breakfast. Natsumi was surprised with the skill her new daughter showed. It was on par with her own, even if the preparation itself was a little unorthodox. Slicing vegetables mid-air wasn't exactly a common skill, or easy, yet Ikumi was doing it without a second thought.

"You're quite good at that," Natsumi said as Ikumi sliced a carrot and all the pieces fell into a bowl.

Ikumi smiled as she grabbed another vegetable. "Thanks. I think I've had a lot of practice doing things like this, though I don't think it was this exactly."

"I think I know what it is," Tamami said from the doorway. She had caught sight of the little show on her way to the furo and decided to stick around a bit. "But it'll have to wait until after school," she said as she walked off.

Ikumi just stared at the doorway. "She couldn't just tell me now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Natsumi laughed lightly. "Ta-chan is like that. She'll tell you later. She probably wants to make sure she's right first."

"Right..." Ikumi wasn't completely sure she believed the explanation, but accepted it. Tamami had been watching her a bit too closely for her to feel comfortable.

* * *

After school, Tamami had handed her a martial arts gi and asked her to come outside once she was changed. Ikumi had stared at it for a few moments before changing. Something about it felt familiar, but she wasn't sure what. Maybe this was what Tamami wanted to make sure of before telling her?

Ikumi walked out into the back yard where Tamami was waiting for her.

"Over here," Tamami called out and waved her over while continuing her stretches.

"Why did you want me to put this on?" she asked, tugging lightly at the gi. It felt familiar to her; almost nostalgic.

"Didn't want to ruin any of Chi-neechan's clothes," she said as she finished her stretches. "You're not going to loosen up first?"

"For what?"

Tamami sighed. "Ok. I think you've had some training in the Art, martial arts, and since you can't remember anything I thought I'd see how much skill your body remembers. That show in the kitchen this morning showed that you have some skill. Being able to keep up with my twin little sisters, and actually surviving that," she gestured to the remains of the crater that marked her entry point into their lives, "shows that you have high endurance and maybe even subconscious protective reflexes. That's what I want to test. The body remembers what the mind forgets."

Ikumi was slightly overwhelmed. 'That explains why she's been watching me like a hawk.' "Ok. But how are we going to do this then?"

Tamami smirked. "Just try and avoid my tags and try to tag me. No hard hits."

"Ok," she nodded.

Tamami took a stance and Ikumi mirrored it perfectly, much to the younger girl's surprise. Eyeing the redhead critically, she charged forward to start their tag-dance.

Two hours later, Tamami was lying on the ground panting and covered in sweat. "I can't believe I couldn't even touch you," she said between breaths while looking over at the older and obviously more skilled girl.

"I don't believe it either," she said while idly scratching at the back of her head with an apologetic smile. She had barely exerted herself and could probably keep going for hours more. "I guess you were right, but I really don't remember anything about it. I wasn't even thinking about what moves I was making. I was just doing them."

Tamami propped herself up on her elbows after catching her breath. "You're coming with me to my next class. Maybe Sensei can recognize what school you're using and we can find out where you're from that way."

The redhead brightened up. "Really? I hope so," she smiled.

Tamami smiled back. "How about we go wash up before Okaachan has dinner ready?"

Ikumi visibly paled. "Ah... um... Y-you go ahead first," she said nervously while looking for somewhere to run off to.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. 'What's she so afraid of?'

"Nothing! Um... Nothing's wrong... I just like to bathe alone," she said while still looking slightly panicked.

Tamami sighed and got up. "I'll tell you when I'm done," she said as she walked off to the furo.

When Tamami was out of sight, Ikumi exhaled heavily. 'Safe!'

* * *

"Have a bit too much fun practicing, Tamami-chan?" Mutsumi asked as Tamami walked by clad only in a towel and headed to her room.

Looking over at her older sister, she nodded. "Maybe a bit," she said with a slight smile. "I'm seriously surprised at how good Ikumi-san is, even without her memory."

Mutsumi looked at her questioningly. "So, she's better than you?"

"Better well beyond our age difference," she said with a sigh. "I'm taking her to my next class to introduce her to Sensei. He may know what school she practices."

"Ara," Mutsumi smiled. "So we may be able to find her family, right? That's a good idea!" she said gleefully. "So, where is Ikumi-chan?"

Tamami gestured back the way she had come. "She's in the furo now. She didn't want to bathe together for some reason," she shrugged.

The elder Otohime looked thoughtful for a few moments before getting up and heading over to her younger sister. "I think I'll go keep her company," she smiled.

Tamami looked at her questioningly. "Are you sure about that, Oneechan? She seemed terrified of going bathing with someone else."

Mutsumi just waved her off. "It's ok. She probably is afraid of how she looks because of those burns." 'Though the doctor said they should be gone by now,' she thought.

The short-haired Otohime just shrugged. "Ok, but I think you're wrong about that," she said as she walked off to her room to get dressed.

* * *

Ikumi stood at the edge of the furo, staring at the obviously warm water. She was a bit sore from the exercise and the hot water would soothe her muscles, but the side effect of getting in always caused her to pause. After a moment she sighed and stepped into the water, her form shifting within a fraction of a second.

'Why does this happen every time? What's wrong with me?' the now male Ikumi thought as he sat down in the water and stared at his hands. After a minute he just sighed and slipped deeper into the water and let it wash away his current worries. 'Mutsumi-san was right,' he thought with a smile. 'Why worry about something I can't help and isn't really important right now?'

After a few minutes of soaking, he felt something wrong and looked around. 'What was that feeling?' he thought as the feeling got worse. After a moment of thought he decided it was probably time to get out anyway and stood up. The moment he had a leg up on the edge, the door slid open. He looked and froze in shock.

Mutsumi stood in the doorway covered only with a towel she was holding in front of her. She had expected to see a redhead in here, not a boy standing there in the nude. She froze partly in fear and partly in surprise.

They stared at each other for what seemed like hours before the male Ikumi made the first move. He dove back into the water and curled up with his back to her.

Mutsumi snapped out of it a moment later as she realized what she had just seen. 'Ara maa, such a big boy,' she thought with a blush. She quickly wrapped the towel around herself to distract herself from the scene she had just been shown.

Ikumi sat curled up in the still warm water, shivering. 'She saw me! What should I do!' the thought kept repeating in his mind. 'Run? They've been so nice to me, but they'll find out sooner or later. I'm a freak! They'll probably send me away,' he thought, on the verge of crying.

Mutsumi just watched curiously, but cautiously, for a bit. If this person had meant her harm, why did he dive back into the water shaking like a scared child?

After a few minutes of silence, she decided to speak up. "Excuse me, why are you in our bath?"

Ikumi glanced back. 'She didn't leave?' he thought, surprised, before turning back. 'Running's out. I have nowhere else to go anyway.' He made his decision and steeled himself. "Mu-Mutsumi-san?"

'He knows my name?' she thought. "Yes?"

"C-could you please keep what I'm about to show you a secret?" he asked in a trembling, pleading voice while still looking away from her.

"Well, I've already seen 'it'," she blushed. "It's not something I would normally go telling people about, though."

Ikumi turned around and looked at her confused and supprised. "Huh? You knew!" Then he noticed her blush. After a moment he realized what she was thinking and started making warding gestures. "Gah! I'm not talking about that!"

She looked at him and noticed his eyes first. 'Blue. Just like Ikumi's.' "Then what is it? And where's Ikumi?"

He froze, then calmed down and stepped over to the faucet on the wall and partially filled one of the wooden wash buckets with cold water. He grabbed it and faced Mutsumi with a worried and sad expression. "I'm right here, Mutsumi-san," he said and dumped the water over his head.

Mutsumi watched and blinked a few times just to confirm she wasn't imagining it. The unknown boy she had just been talking to had turned into the girl who had crashed down in her back yard. She couldn't take the shock this time and she fainted a moment later.

Ikumi, who had started looking at the ground after changing back into a girl, noticed the change in the way Mutsumi was standing and looked up slightly to see her starting to fall over. Before she could even think, she was over by the older girl and caught her.

"Mutsumi-san... Mutsumi-san!" she said shaking the older girl. Not getting any response, Ikumi laid her on the ground gently and ran over to the door, completely ignoring her own nudity. "**Natsumi-san! Mutsumi-san's fainted!**"

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope this chapter flows as smoothly as I tried to make it. Still have a few reservations on how a few points ended up being played out, but I think it works for the most part.

The curse is revealed, Ikumi going to start martial arts again, and Mutsumi's out cold. Oh, and can't forget Tama-chan's family!

Bobboky: As far as I know anything that happens to one form affects both. Like I doubt that if he lost his hand as a guy, he'd have back it as a girl, and the curse never affected his mental state. (with the exception of that bump on the head in the koi pond) The same with the other cursed people.

Wonderbee: Thanks. I started writing the Nerima section and it all just flowed out of my fingers. I thought the confrontation between Nabiki and Nodoka was needed. Nabiki, while being a gold digger, is probably one of the most informed people in the district and everything going haywired is getting to her.

Shiner: I think it's a nice disguise, and insanely cute at the same time. grin

glazedlookingeyes: Thanks, I've been thinking a lot about how to keep this from spinning out of control and now I know I'm doing well. And about Kodachi, sorry I never actually said it, but she's having withdrawals from her own drugs, powders, and poisons. She had inadvertently been subjecting herself (and probably Tatewaki) to them over the years and it came to affect her judgment, creating the Black Rose we all know and cringe from when she laughs. I'll be sure to note it next time I come back to her.

Trugeta: Yes, she has changed and learned the basics of the curse. I'll explain most of it in the next chapter since I revealed it in this one. I haven't really been pointing them out, but she has been remembering things, just nothing important or identifying.

Eric: I never claimed to be a good writer. I'm terrible in English classes that need me to write essays most of the time. And about Mutsumi's fits... She's a really hard character to write for so hopefully I can explain off the 'fits' quickly and use them as the plot devices/jokes they were meant for.

Thank you everyone that reviewed! You all give me the will to write. Hope you like this chapter and where I plan to take the story as a whole!


	5. 04: Forming New Bonds

Storms of Change  
A Ranma ½ - Love Hina Crossover  
By: Kiikun

Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and have not requested permission for their use. The pixies and imps have forced me to write this, so sue them please, not me. Actually, just sue the imps... the pixies are nice most of the time.

* * *

04 – Forming New Bonds

* * *

"**Natsumi-san! Mutsumi-san's fainted!**" Ikumi yelled out as she burst through the outer door of the furo into the hallway, clad only in a thin sheet of water that clung to her skin. 

Nanami had the luck to be walking by at just that moment and was knocked down by the swinging door. "Itte! What hit me…," she trailed off as she looked up and saw proof that the newest resident of the household was a natural redhead. "**Would you put some clothes on!**" she yelled.

Hearing the voice near her, she spun around and looked down on the fallen dual ponytailed girl. "Nanami-chan! Mutsumi-san's fainted!" she said, trembling visibly and on the verge of tears. "W-w-what should we do!"

The younger girl got up, rubbing her sore rear, and moved to look into the open furo to see her eldest sister on the floor, apparently sitting against the wall. "Did she hit her head or anything?"

The redhead shook her head. "I caught her as she started to fall. Shouldn't we call a doctor or something?" she asked worriedly.

Nanami shook her head and sighed. "She'll be fine. I give her no more than three minutes and she'll be up and saying something like 'Ara ara, ohayou'," she mimicked.

Ikumi looked at the younger girl and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the awakening Mutsumi.

"Ara such a strange dream," the female Toudai ronin said as she regained consciousness. Looking around, she spots Nanami and Ikumi and smiles. "Ah, Ohayou."

The redhead just looks at her with, stupefied. 'She... thinks it was a dream?' she thought.

"So, what kind of dream was it?" Nanami asked with a small, mirth-filled smirk. "Was it about Kei-kun again?"

Mutsumi smiled a bit. "No, this guy was cuter than... Mou! Nanami-chan!" she pouted at her younger sister for teasing her about her childhood love.

Nanami grinned. "Ooh! Oneechan's got a new boyfriend! What's his name? Where'd you meet him? How old is he?" she said giggling.

Ikumi, still in shock because of the events of the past few minutes, didn't realize she started to fidget nervously.

The elder Otohime frowned and glared at her younger sister for a moment before she noticed the redhead's fidgeting and expression of slight fear and worry. She blinked in surprise as such an expression and the entirety of her 'dream' became clear in her mind.

Her brow furrowed in thought. 'That can't be possible.' She took in the redhead's expression again and couldn't think of any other reason for her to be afraid. "Ikumi-chan?"

"Y-yes…?" Ikumi squeaked. Being addressed directly broke her from her frozen state of shock, but didn't belay the other emotions flooding though her mind now. Her muscles tensed as she fought the urge to just disappear.

'She's not just scared... she's terrified!' Mutsumi thought with worry. Taking a moment to calm herself, she smiled. "Aren't you cold standing in the hallway like that?" she asked while motioning to her to come back in.

The redhead woodenly moved back into the changing area, followed by a now highly curious Nanami. The younger girl had also noticed the strange way she was acting and wanted to know why. She closed the door behind them out of habit.

Hearing the door click behind her, Ikumi turned to look wide-eyed at Nanami. The combat oriented part of her mind said that she was trapped unless she wanted to hurt one of them, but that was out of the question. She turned back to the older girl with a pleading look.

Mutsumi glanced at Nanami a moment and sighed. Turning back to Ikumi, she smiled again to try and calm her down. "It wasn't a dream, was it, Ikumi-chan?" she asked.

Ikumi froze again. To her, the question was equivalent of asking a criminal to admit his crime. She wanted to run. She wanted to lie. She just wanted to get away from the entire situation, but she knew it was impossible. They took her in when she had nothing. They gave her a name and a chance at normalcy, which she felt like she had never been given before. So she did the only thing she could think to do at the moment.

"I'm sorry," she said just loud enough to be heard as she looked down at her feet, unable to look at either of them. Silent tears started to form in her eyes. 'They're going to send me away. I know it,' she thought.

Nanami looked between the both of them, thoroughly confused. Putting together the few pieces of information she had, the only idea that came to mind was that the redhead had snuck a boyfriend into the bathroom with her and Mutsumi walked in on them. It seemed to fit, but something still felt off. She just couldn't figure out what it was.

Mutsumi looked down at the redhead worried for her. "Why didn't you tell us?" she asked simply.

Ikumi didn't respond. In her mind there was nothing she could say that would bring their forgiveness.

Nanami broke the silence after a minute. "Oh, come on. Stop acting like it's the end of the world because Oneechan saw you with your boyfriend..." she tailed off when Mutsumi turned to her with a look telling her to be quiet. "What?" she asked indignantly.

The elder Otohime sighed and turned back to the redhead. "You asked me to keep it a secret," she paused to see her reaction, but none came. "I will," Ikumi's head shot up to look at her in complete disbelief, "but on two conditions."

Ikumi's shoulders slumped and she looked down again. 'And one of them is that I leave...'

"First, I won't lie to my family if they figure it out on their own." She glances over at her little sister. "Since Nanami-chan is here, I think she deserves to know. Second..."

'Here it comes...,' the depressed redhead thought.

Mutsumi paused a moment when she noticed Ikumi tense again. With a mental sigh, she continued in a much softer tone. "Second, I still want to know why."

The redhead blinked for a moment without looking up. She was absolutely sure she had heard wrong, but couldn't resist the tiny flicker of hope that caused her to squeak out "Wh-what?"

The taller girl smiled slightly and gently placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders. "I want to know why you didn't think you could trust us with this," she said with a tiny bit of hurt in her voice.

Ikumi winced a moment when she heard the slight pain in her voice and her words. She looked up at Mutsumi with unshed tears still in her eyes. "I do trust you!" she exclaimed, then looked away. "It's just… I'm not normal. I'm a freak!"

Mutsumi pulled the redhead into a gentle hug. "You're unique. That's not something to be ashamed of. But it still doesn't explain why you didn't say anything about it."

"I thought you might send me away," she mumbled just loud enough to be heard in the small room. The tears that had been threatening to flow finally overcame their restraints as the redhead sobbed. "I don't wanna be sent away again!" she cried out loud enough to be heard down the hallway as she latched onto Mutsumi's waist tightly, but not tight enough to break anything.

Both Otohimes in the room blinked at the outburst and felt sorry for her. Mutsumi hugged the redhead a bit more firmly while smoothing her flaming locks out in an attempt to calm her. "Shh. It's ok. We would never send you away because of that," she murmured softly in a way that was somewhere between sisterly and motherly.

Nanami came up behind the sobbing girl and hugged her around her midsection as well. "I don't know what's going on, but whatever your secret is, if Oneechan can forgive you for it then no one should have ever sent you away because of it."

----------

Outside in the hallway, a lone figure stepped back from the closed doorway where they had been listening to the conversation. The figure smiled and headed back down the hallway unnoticed by the occupants of the furo.

----------

Minutes passed before Ikumi calmed down enough to regain control of herself. Loosening her bear hug, she moved back a bit from where she had been crying into the older woman's chest. "Th-thank you, Mutsumi-san, Nanami-chan," she said hoarsely without looking up from the floor.

Mutsumi smiled down at the redhead. "There's no need for that. Like I said, we would never send you away because of your... 'ability'? What should we be calling it?"

She was quiet for a moment before she looked over at Nanami. "You really won't tell anyone?" she asked.

The younger girl looked back at her with a slightly hurt frown, causing Ikumi to wince internally. "You really think I'll go blabbing about something that has you this worried? I'm not Baka-Tsukuro. I'll leave telling whatever 'it' is up to you and Oneechan."

The redhead smiled and turned back to look at Mutsumi. "I've just been thinking of it as a 'change'. I don't know or remember anything else about it. It was just luck I learned how to change back," she sighed.

"What do you mean 'change'?" Nanami asked.

Ikumi opened her mouth to speak but was beat to the punch by Mutsumi. "I think it would be better to show her than just tell her," she said with a smile.

The redhead thought for a second then sighed. "Your right," she said and turned to move through the doorway separating the changing and washing areas but was stopped by Mutsumi's hand on her shoulder. She looked back at her confused.

Mutsumi smiled and held out a towel. "You should cover yourself."

Ikumi blinked stupidly for a second then looked down at herself. She blushed and started to wrap the towel around her waist. She blushed even deeper after realizing just how long she'd been like that. She tried to calm herself down by saying it was ok because they were all girls and ignored the vague sense of deja vu from that thought.

She filled one of the wooden wash buckets with hot water from the tub as the two Otohimes moved in with her. With the bucket in her hands, she looked from Nanami to Mutsumi and back as she prepared herself for the younger girl's reaction. With a deep breath, she dumped the water over her head.

Nanami blinked as she saw Ikumi's hair turn from red to black, her chest shrank, grew a few inches in height, and became more masculine. She blinked a few more times just to confirm her eyes weren't lying to her.

Seconds passed in silence as the dual ponytailed Otohime stared at the now male Ikumi.

"W-what...?" she sputtered out in complete disbelief of what she had just witnessed. She looked up at her sister for a moment before looking back at the former redhead. "Ikumi...?"

He wasn't able to look directly at either of them and only nodded. "Sorry 'bout this," he said quietly on impulse.

"You don't need to apologize Ikumi...-kun?" Mutsumi said sounding unsure if she should be using the masculine naming suffix.

"How...? What happened to you?" Nanami asked in a tone of complete confusion.

Ikumi sat morosely on the edge of the tub. "Every time I touch hot water... I turn into a boy. Cold water turns me back. I don't know why my body is like this. I don't even know what I am," he said.

Mutsumi stepped past her younger sister and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. You're still you whether you're girl or boy, right?" Ikumi nodded and she continued. "Then does it really matter which you are?"

Ikumi thought for a second before replying. "Maybe not, but I just wish I knew. I just feel like I've lost everything since I woke up."

Mutsumi hugged him. "Don't worry about it. It will all come back to you eventually, right?"

"I hope so," he said with a sad smile as he turned to the elder Otohime. Now, had Ikumi been paying more attention to his surroundings than the person next to him and his internal turmoil, he might have had a moment's warning before suddenly becoming drenched.

"Wow, it really does work," Nanami said with a sense of awe, while still holding the still dripping wash bucket. She completely missed the looks of stunned surprise from the two elder girls as she moved quickly to the furo and splashed some of the hot water on the aquatransexual. She watched closely as Ikumi's form once again shifted to male with a grin. "This is so cool!"

"Nanami-chan!" Mutsumi exclaimed after overcoming the suddenness of her little sister's 'attack'. "Stop splashing Ikumi-chan!"

"But…! It's so cool how she changes!" the dual-ponytailed girl defended herself.

The elder Otohime frowned at her younger sister. "That doesn't mean you should keep doing it. You didn't like it when Tsukuro-kun was always pulling your hair, right?"

Nanami cringed. "Okay! Okay!" she said after dropping the bucket. "I'll stop! Just don't remind me of that again."

Ikumi-kun looked between the two. "Huh?"

Mutsumi laughed lightly. "Tsukuro-kun used to play 'horsey' with Nanami-chan."

"Stooooop," the youngest of the three whined.

She just laughed for a few more seconds before stopping suddenly. "Ara? Isn't it almost time for dinner?" she asked.

"Um…" he said while looking at the still cringing Nanami, who had her hands up to her hair to guard her ponytails. "I think so."

"Then we should finish our baths," she said with a smile.

Ikumi-kun blushed slightly and looked away from the sisters. "I was finished," he said as he moved to fill a bucket with cold water to change back.

Mutsumi smiled sweetly. "But you must be cold from standing around all wet. You should soak a few more minutes to warm up."

The aquatransexual's blush deepened, but didn't stop from pouring the cold water over his, now her, head. "I-I'll be fine," she said, nervousness making her voice crack slightly. "Let's go see if we can help Natsumi-san with dinner," she said glancing to Nanami before going back into the changing room to dry off and get dressed. Nanami followed shortly behind her and closed the sliding door.

Mutsumi frowned slightly to herself as they left. The strange things about her new little sister kept growing and she was worried about what else she was hiding, or what was still hidden from her. She could only guess at what Ikumi was truly going through. First amnesia, then her ability to change between genders, and now whatever memories were surfacing were apparently not all pleasant.

She sighed as she began washing her arms. 'She's been hurt too much, even if she doesn't remember it all. I won't let anyone else hurt her,' she silently vowed.

----------

Akane sat alone in her hospital bed as she gazed out the window as the sky turned with the colors of sunset. About two weeks have passed since... that day. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She had already spent enough time dwelling on it.

She knew she was to blame. Every way she looked at it all angled it back to her own rage. It was easy to try and blame it on Genma, the Amazons, Ukyo, or even Ranma himself, but having the time and solitude of her hospital stay left her mind to roam over everything that had happened, trying to think what could have prevented it. Everything pointed at her being the cause. She was the one that dumped the water on the Jusenkyou victims, knowing what the effect would be. She was the one too blinded by rage to see what was really happening. She was the one that... killed him.

She shook her head to break from that train of thought. She had wandered there too many times now. Tears wouldn't bring him back.

A knock at the door dragged her fully back to reality.

'Aren't visiting hours over?' Akane thought. 'Plus, Oneechan's already been here... Must be one of the staff.' "It's open," she called out.

She was doubly surprised when she saw who it was. First was the fact that it was Kuno's twisted sister, Kodachi. Second was the condition she appeared to be in.

Kodachi was clad in a hospital gown much like Akane was. She was also holding onto a tall metallic pole with a wheeled base and a bag of yellowish fluid hanging from the top with a thin tube leading down from the bag and ending at a needle in her arm.

Kodachi looked sadly at the bedridden girl as she stepped into the room, pulling the IV pole with her. "Brother told me you had been placed in this hospital too. The staff refused to tell him what room you were in though," she said in a weak, measured voice.

Akane looked away. "And you're going to tell him where I am. I deserve it."

The gymnast shook her head and sighed. "I won't tell him. Let him pine over loves that despise him. He'll learn sooner or later," she said as she moved fully into the room and closed the door behind her. "I have," she said with a depressed sigh.

Akane looked back at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Kodachi shook her head sadly and sat in one of the chairs near the Tendo's bed. "My stay in this institution has been... enlightening. It is as if I have lived within a dense miasma for so long that I had forgotten that there was anything else. Thanks to the physicians here, the fog has begun to lift from my mind." She paused to take a deep, calming breath. "I don't think Ranma-sama had ever loved me...," she said sadly.

The short-haired girl stared at the gymnast, stunned. In her defense, nearly everyone that speaks with Kodachi over the next few months will be stunned with the difference. "Then," she spoke after a few moments, "why are you here?"

Kodachi took another deep breath before looking at Akane. 'These breathing exercises that Nagai-sensei taught me help a lot. It wouldn't do to lose control and harm the poor girl,' she thought to herself before speaking. "I have come to visit you for two reasons," she said, then paused for another of her 'calming breath' exercises.

Akane was starting to get nervous at the way Kuno's sister kept taking long, deliberate breaths. She knew she couldn't defend herself with her arm and leg in these casts. She felt around behind her to find the nurse station call button, trying to look inconspicuous.

"First, I would like to apologize for the things I have done to you and Ranma-sama," she said while bowing slightly from her sitting position. "I can only hope some of the things I remember now are... exaggerated from what truly happened."

The bedridden girl relaxed slightly upon hearing the apology, though she didn't release the call button, just in case.

"Second, I wish to know what truly happened that day. As you most likely know, my dear brother is not one to be listened to if you wish the truth," she said while making eye contact once again with the Tendo girl.

Akane looked away to try and hide the sadness on her face from the Black Rose at being turned back to remembering 'that day'. "Why me?" she asked.

Kodachi, correctly assuming it wasn't a rhetorical lamentation, replied. "Because, of what Tachi has told me, you are one of the few people that possibly knows the whole story."

She sighed, knowing it would be hard to recount the events even thought she'd run them through her mind dozens upon dozens of times already. She took a moment to think as well, since Kodachi didn't know about the curses, that she would have to adapt what happened a bit. Resigning herself, she started to speak. "It was my fault," she started, sadness evident in her voice. "Ranma is... was a heavy sleeper, so I would do things to wake him up. That morning I was angry at him and... threw a cat in on him."

Kodachi seemed to remember something for a moment about some ranting her brother did a while back. "What would a cat have to do with this?"

Akane paused for a moment to collect herself again after being interrupted. "Uncle Saotome tried to teach Ranma an unbeatable technique when he was just a kid. It involved throwing Ranma, wrapped in fish products, into a pit of starving cats... repeatedly. Ranma was terrified of cats afterwards and sometimes would revert into acting like a cat himself. That was the technique. The Neko-ken."

'So, maybe there is some merit to my brother's rantings,' Kodachi thought for a moment. "If that is so, then why did you even allow cats onto your property?"

Akane was caught off-guard by one of the holes in her story and tried to recover. "They... um... sometimes sneak in. That one made it into the house and I saw her before I could get to any of the other things I usually woke him up with..."

Kodachi nodded her acceptance of the story, even knowing it was just that and not fact. There was something the girl was hiding, but maybe she would learn of it from the others she planned to ask.

Akane felt relieved momentarily that the gymnast had accepted the fabrication. After a moment to get her thoughts back on track, she continued. "After I did that, I left him alone. I think I heard him outside screaming about the cat, but I didn't see him again until lunchtime at school. I was still angry at him... and then a fight between Ukyo and me started. I don't remember much of it, but I do remember seeing Ranma. He had reverted into the Neko-ken and stopped the fight by jumping on me from behind, then jumping on her, forcing her to sit on the ground so he could curl up in her lap. He usually did that with me. I looked up from the ground to see him in Ukyo's lap with his face to hers. I hit him with my mallet, hard, and sent him flying into the sky like I usually did. I was just so unthinkingly angry at the time. I had hit him into a storm cloud... and that he never fell back down," she said and then started to sniffle as tears welled up in her eyes yet again at remembering the final details. "I... heard him screaming, and didn't even care. I killed him and didn't even realize or care about it until I had woken up in here after Ukyo had nearly beaten me to death..."

Kodachi took calming breath. 'Perhaps some of my memories of this girl are not as exaggerated as I thought,' she thought. After another breath she reached out and placed her hand on the sobbing girl's shoulder to comfort her, causing her to flinch and pull away slightly. "The past cannot be changed, only atoned for. Some day we all may have a chance to atone."

Akane started to calm after hearing that. The tears didn't stop flowing, but she regained the ability to speak. "Th-Thank you," she said, turning to look anew at the girl she had always considered at least slightly insane. "But I don't think I'll ever be able to for what I did..."

"I do not think most see their chances until they are before them, or have already passed. You only need to keep aware to see them," Kodachi said with a slight smile before sitting back in her chair. "There is one more thing I wish to ask. Was not the pigtailed girl there? My brother's ravings may not be wholly truthful, but he doesn't usually claim people there who are not."

Akane looked away slightly. She may not be as bad a liar as Ranma was, but she didn't trust herself at the moment to not give away her lies. "She was there too, but I don't remember anything she did," she said, hoping Kodachi wouldn't pry any farther since she couldn't think of anything else that wouldn't be flat out saying that the pigtailed girl WAS Ranma.

'Still she doesn't speak the whole truth. Surely if there were two individuals inflicted with this Neko-ken, would they not have both fought my brother or been seen together? Yet this girl claims the pigtailed girl had nothing to do with anything... Strange,' she thought.

After a minute, Kodachi stood and bowed slightly. "Thank you for telling me a more truthful tale of what happened than what I would hear from my brother," she said, then straightened herself and smiled slightly. "I believe brother dearest would wish to pay for your stay in this institution, once he is reminded that even with your sister's swindling ways, your family is not as well off as ours." Her smile faltered then. "I also offer my aid in any funeral services for Ranma-sama," she said sadly.

Akane winced at the mention of funeral services and let a slight depression fall over her. Her only response to the offers was an accepting nod.

Kodachi excused herself silently, but paused before closing the door. "Get well, Tendo Akane. I do not think even Ranma-sama would have wanted to see you broken by this," she said, then waited. After a few moments of unresponsiveness, she sighed and closed the door.

* * *

Author's Notes: DONE! Sorry for the wait. The bath scene hung me up in at least 3 places and I've just realized I haven't fully thought out the Kuno aspect of the Nerima fallout beyond the basics. Also was running half on discarded ideas. I seem to have run my chapter length for this up to Love Remix's minimum. Maybe I'll keep up this size if it fits. 

I'm changing the last chapter's title from 'History Repeats' to 'Lightning's Second Strike'.

* * *

OMAKE! (WARNING: Lime... at worst) (might have been better in 03, but here because the scene ended here :P) 

Mutsumi stood in the doorway covered only with a towel she was holding in front of her. She had expected to see a redhead in here, not a boy standing there in the nude. She froze in surprise and awe.

Before Ikumi-kun's mind could reboot to working levels, Mutsumi turned and walked back out of sight. He sank back into the water as a wave of depression washed over him. 'She saw me...' He sat there afraid of what was going to happen next.

Click

'That didn't sound like the outer door closing,' he thought before turning to look in the direction of the open doorway. 'It sounded more like it was… being… locked…' His thoughts trailed off as his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates at the sight he saw in the doorway.

Mutsumi stood in the doorway, sans towel, with a seductive grin on her face. She stepped up to him slowly. Gently placing her hand under his chin, she made him stand up from the water. After he seemed stable, she stepped back to look him over once again. "Ara maa, such a big boy," she said with her grin turning feral, "And I have you all to myself."

Ikumi-kun started sputtering and stumbling backwards until he was against the wall. "B-b-b-but M-Mutsumi-san! W-w-we can't!" he protested waving his arms wildly trying to keep her back.

"Says who?" she asked, grin firmly in place and her eyes roving all over the male specimen before her. "You seem to be **perfectly** healthy," she said, licking her lips, "and are much more handsome that I've ever dreamed my Kei-kun to be." She started moving forward into the furo with him.

"I-i-it's n-not what you think, M-Mutsumi-san!" he continued to exclaim while looking around for a way out when his eyes landed on the faucet on the other wall. 'Cold water!' he screamed in his mind and dove sideways just as the elder girl nearly pinned him to the wall.

Mutsumi pouted cutely as he made her final lunge, only to see him dive sideways and away from her. She turned to continue her chase as she saw him fumbling with the faucet and buckets. 'What's he doing?' she thought.

Panicking, Ikumi-kun filled the bucket with cold water while trying to keep and eye on Mutsumi-san. Just as she exited the furo and nearly grabbed him again, he rolled sideways with the bucket, dumping it on himself in the process, causing him to turn back into a female. "See Mutsumi-san?" she asked, panic still in her voice. "It's me!"

Mutsumi looked down at the obviously natural redheaded girl lying on the ground with a mild look of shock. "Ikumi-chan?" she asked, receiving a frantic nod. After a few seconds of thought, the grin returned to her face. "This just makes it more interesting!" she exclaimed and pounced on the shocked redhead.

* * *

Super Special Thanks to:  
MGsaintz (as usual) - for the same things as usual... and sticking the Omake idea in my head... 

Thanks to:  
Shinji's Forum  
FukuFics Forum  
and everyone who reviews :)


	6. 05: Rumblings from the Past

Storms of Change  
A Ranma ½ - Love Hina Crossover  
Written By: Kiikun  
With help from: MGSaintz  
8/19/2006

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, Love Hina, or the microbes making themselves home in your intestines. I will be using characters, locations, and ideas from both Ranma and Love Hina. The microbes can fend for themselves.

05 – Rumblings from the Past

----------

Mutsumi and Nanami finding out about her condition was a mixed blessing for Ikumi. She had never expected them to accept her when they learned about it. In fact, even though she was thankful and grateful for their help, she had been trying to not get too comfortable in their home. It would have just hurt more if they had rejected her and thrown her out.

Now, with Mutsumi and Nanami knowing about and accepting the change, she allowed herself to get more comfortable with her position in their home and family. Surely if Mutsumi and Nanami could accept her, then her fears about being thrown out were baseless.

Things were fine the first few days afterwards, but then accidents started to happen more frequently. At first it had been simple things, like a cup of tea getting spilled on her or a hot water pack bursting when Tamami tripped. Then there were incidents like what had happened in the kitchen.

She had been helping Natsumi cook dinner and was stirring one of the pots on the stove for her when the twins, followed by Tamami, charged through. One of the twins had bumped her, causing her to get splashed by the water in the pot. She had to stifle a yelp of pain from the burn and ran out the way the trio had come. She was sure Tamami had seen 'him', even if only out of the corner of her eye. She was just glad Natsumi was distracted by the kids and didn't see the change. While Ikumi was more confident about not being rejected now, she was still afraid of how Natsumi and the others would react.

The hot water accidents were only the start of her problems though. She had been having vague dreams for a while and had hoped they were parts of her memory returning. The doctors had told her she would get her oldest memories back first and she was only a child in the dreams, so she felt safe in the assumption. And she was safe… until the dreams became less vague.

Natsumi had been up late and was on her way to bed when she heard sounds from Ikumi's room. Curious, as she knew her adoptive daughter had gone to bed long ago, she opened the door just enough to see what was happening. When she saw her whimpering and struggling against an invisible foe in her sleep, Natsumi knew the redhead was having a nightmare. Without another thought, she moved into the room and over to the bed to comfort the redhead.

In the dreamscape, little Ikumi was struggling against a pair of hands that were dragging her away from her home and the silent redheaded woman who she thought was her mother. No matter what she did, she couldn't escape the grip of those hands. Panicking, she reached out and called to the woman. The woman, though, just turned her back to the struggling child and entered the house. Feeling abandoned and alone, Ikumi redoubled her efforts to escape the grasp of whatever was taking her away.

As the house faded away in the distance, something else came to her attention. From all directions around her, she could hear someone humming a sweet, gentle tune. Distracted from her struggles by the tune, it took her a moment to realize the hands had released her and were replaced by something else. She still felt restrained, but it was no longer forceful and cold. She felt warm and safe in whatever now held her, like she wasn't alone anymore. With the focus of fighting off the hands gone and this new warmth surrounding her, she let herself go, curling up into a ball on the ground, crying.

Natsumi cradled the sobbing girl while gently humming the tune she found to best calm her children when they had nightmares. Apparently it helped her adopted daughter as well, which she was glad for. While she had no way to know what was really going on in the girl's mind, the redhead calling out 'mama' in her sleep gave her enough of an idea. She stayed until Ikumi was sound asleep, beyond whatever nightmares would bother her.

After everyone had gone off to school the next morning, Natsumi pulled Mutsumi aside into the living room. "Mutsumi-chan, have you noticed Ikumi-chan having any nightmares?" she asked.

Mutsumi blinked in surprise. "Nightmares? She hasn't said anything to me about having any," she said worriedly.

"I had hoped she would have at least talked to you," Natsumi said with a sigh. "Especially since she opened up to you and Nanami."

Mutsumi looked questioningly at her mother for a moment before realization set in and her eyes grew to the size of saucers. "You know what happened in the furo?" she asked, stunned. She had thought only her and Nanami knew.

The Otohime matriarch smiled at her daughter. "Ikumi-chan did call for me when you fainted. Nanami and her were just going back in when I turned the corner. At first I thought something happened to you, because she looked terrified. I heard you talking through the door, though, so I decided to eavesdrop just a bit. I couldn't hear much, but I did hear you promise to keep a secret. And Nanami-chan was right," she said. Her smile faded as the image of the nightmare-griped redhead from last night calling for her mother entered her mind. "No one deserves to be abandoned for simply having a secret to keep," she said in a serious tone.

The Toudai ronin looked at her mother with slight surprise at the change in tone. She wasn't sure what had caused it, but she recognized the tone in her mother's voice. It was the tone her mother used whenever she believed someone had intentionally caused harm to her family. While the woman wasn't overprotective of her children, she was fiercely protective when she felt she needed to be.

That brought a smile to Mutsumi's face once she realized that it was Ikumi that her mother was reacting this way for. It also made her wonder what really caused her mother to fully accept Ikumi into the family. The adoption, while above and beyond simply being kind, was only meant as a temporary situation until the redhead regained her memories and her real family could help her. Somehow, the redhead had managed to endear herself to Natsumi enough that she fully considered her a member of the family. But finding out what happened wasn't entirely important at the moment.

"Yes mother," Mutsumi started. "Ikumi-chan shouldn't have ever been sent away by anyone because of her… condition. Especially since she can't easily control it."

"Mu-chan...," the elder woman said with a chiding tone. "This has something to do with what you promised to keep secret, correct?"

The eldest child nodded. "I won't break my promise, but I believe you should know it as well. I think Ikumi-chan is just scared of how everyone will react when they learn of… it."

"Her secret can't be that terrible, can it?" she asked with a bit of worry.

Mutsumi took on a thoughtful look. "It's nothing really bad. I think it's worse for her because of the questions it raises."

"Questions?" she asked.

The younger woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, mother. I can't say anymore without ending up breaking my promise to Ikumi-chan."

Natsumi smiled and nodded. "I understand. I just hope you and Nanami knowing will be enough to help her with it."

"I do as well."

That night, Mutsumi stayed up late worrying about the redhead. After noticing that it was late and the girl would already be asleep, she decided to check in on her to see if she was indeed having nightmares. What she saw in the room surprised her. The bed sheets were thrown almost completely across the room, Ikumi was curled up in a ball on the bed whimpering, and Midori had apparently decided to find a new, fortified sleeping spot in the bookcase. Both of the room's regular occupants were asleep, so she decided to talk to Midori later and try to help calm the near-sobbing girl.

As she neared Ikumi, she could just start to make out a bit of what she was saying. While most of it was lost within the sobbing, Mutsumi could make out one line that kept being repeated. "I'm not a weak little girl." She reached out to comfort the redhead, much as her mother had the night before, but the sleeping girl recoiled from the touch as if she had been hit. "No more," she whimpered in her sleep.

Mutsumi was worried for her and reached out to her again, only to pause before actually touching her. "Ikumi-chan," she said quietly. "It's me, Mutsumi. I won't harm you," she said before letting her hand fall gently onto the redhead's shoulder. She was glad that the girl didn't pull away again, and she pulled her closer. "I won't let anyone harm you." She heard Ikumi whimper about being weak again. "You're not weak, Ikumi-chan. No one who is living through what you are now and surviving can be called weak. You're too strong to give in," she said and hugged the redhead a bit more firmly. Ikumi's whimpers slowed after that as the nightmare passed. She set the girl back into bed and recovered the tossed bed sheets before kissing her on the forehead goodnight and heading back to bed herself.

Mutsumi and Natsumi both ended up checking on Ikumi on nights they were still awake late. Since neither of them were trying to fall asleep on time, that meant that nearly every night one or both of them would check in on her and helped to derail many nightmares.

While the nightmares and hot water accidents were stressing, Ikumi managed to find some solace in the time she spent at the local dojo and at home sparring with Tamami. The pre-teen girl had kept her promise to the redhead and had taken her to one of her martial arts classes. Tamami, in her normal way of surprising people, neglected to mention that they were arriving well ahead of class time and that she had also asked her sensei if he could evaluate the newest Otohime's martial arts skill.

Ikumi, still unused to the girl's sneakiness, was caught completely by surprise when they arrived to find no class and the sensei was waiting for her. Deciding to figure out the younger girl later, she accepted the offer for an evaluation after explaining her condition of not actually remembering any of the art. He understood and told her how he planned to evaluate her in hopes of identifying her style.

First off, he asked her to just defend herself, while he ran through a number of different basic attack forms. She blocked them all easily, but he wasn't trying to break through. He only wanted to identify what school she was trained in. After a few minutes of this he reversed their roles, Ikumi on the offensive with him defending. Hesitantly, she started coming at him from various attack angles. She wasn't sure of what she was doing while attacking and mostly tried to copy his own attacks while just going with the flow after she started moving.

The sensei was surprised at the girl's skill and would have thought this to be some joke if it hadn't been Tamami that brought the girl in. Each of her attacks started off clumsily, but quickly became a strong offense. He did notice her starting most of her attacks with the moves he had just been using on her and filed that tidbit away for examination later.

He called Ikumi to a halt after a few more minutes. "You are apparently very skilled Otohime-san. I noticed you using defense and attacks from at least a dozen different styles. Aikido, kempo, karate, judo, and tai chi among them. Your attacks started out sloppy, but considering your condition, I guess can't be helped. Also, it seemed like most of your attacks started by imitating the ones I had used on you. I could say you were trained in the art my school teaches, but you used none of the defense from it, so I must conclude you imitated my attacks. Something like that takes a lot of skill, and Tamami-chan has told me you sparred with her before."

"Hai, sensei," Ikumi said respectfully. "She was the one who realized that I must have been trained in the first place."

"Yes, she is a very perceptive student," he said with a smile and slight laugh. "I have no doubts that she will surpass me in skill some day as well. But anyway, I have never heard of a school that had so many different arts blended together. I would normally ask you to limit yourself to a single style if you had trained in as many styles as I see you using, but that is impossible in your case. I may not be able to identify what your school is, but if you're as skilled as Tamami-chan believes, then maybe I can ask around. I doubt that someone as skilled as you might be would be completely unknown to the competitive and non-competitive martial arts circles. All I ask is that we spar for the final part of the examination. We start out slow and build up in intensity until we find out what dan ranking you are. Ok?"

Ikumi smiled and nodded before taking a defensive stance she had seen him using. He laughed lightly as he saw her almost perfectly imitate one of the stronger defense stances he had used. He took and offensive stance and moved in to begin the spar.

Ten minutes had passed and they were still sparing. Tamami was sitting on a mat to the side watching as the contained combat had just passed her own abilities. Class time was nearing as well and the students of the advanced class had just started to show up as well and were mesmerized by the show of skill between their sensei and the unknown redhead.

Class time had already started and the two martial artists were still sparring with the entire class watching them. The two had pushed the level of combat up past the point where all but a fraction of the students could even follow. It was at that point the sparring came to an abrupt end with the sensei hitting the mat hard and staying down.

After a bit of deep breathing, he sat up and looked over at the redhead in admiration. The girl he had been asked to evaluate was skilled well beyond his own level. "Good spar," he said, still a bit breathless and now very sore.

"Thank you sensei," she said, beaming with pride as she helped him back to his feet. She was barely even winded at the moment. "I think I have re-learned a bit as well from this." Once the sensei was back on his feet, she bowed to him.

"Indeed," he said, returning the bow. "I noticed your attacks became less hesitant after awhile and you started using attack forms I haven't even seen before."

"Yeah. I stopped trying to copy your offense once I noticed how my own changed quickly from them and decided to just try different ones that felt… well… right."

"I must say this is one of the most interesting examinations I have ever given," he said and the entire class, except Tamami, gasped in realization that the person who had just shown skill well beyond any of their own was just being examined.

Ikumi, just realizing the group in the room when they gasped, became nervous at the attention.

"While I still can't identify what specific school or schools you practice, I can say that you are very, very skilled. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were a master of your school or schools." That elicited another gasp from the crowd. 'Why is a master getting evaluated?' a number of them thought.

"Um... thank you, sensei. That should make it easy to... um... find out, right?" she asked, while glancing at Tamami, who was still taking in how skilled her new older sister really was.

He smiled. "I'll do my best to find that out. If my own contacts don't know, then I'll start calling dojos teaching other styles. But honestly, anyone as young as you with that much skill must be well known. I'm honestly surprised I haven't heard of anyone like you."

Ikumi smiled happily. "Thank you, sensei!" 'Finally! Tamami was right. Maybe he can help me find out who I am!' she thought excitedly.

Class started shortly after that. The sensei allowed the redhead to stay and watch the class in hopes the environment would be familiar enough to help her recall something. While it was a good idea, the girl didn't recall anything new afterward. Though she did pick up a few more of the school's advanced moves.

By the end of class, Tamami had come up with another plan to help Ikumi. She asked the sensei if the redhead could join the class to relearn the mental disciplines, even thought she surpassed them all in physical prowess. After a few moments of thought, he agreed that it was a good idea.

Ikumi was surprised when he made the offer of joining the class, but noticed Tamami grinning in the background. While a bit unsure about the younger girl's thought processes, she knew she meant well and accepted the offer. The other students who had stuck around were confused as to why someone more skilled than their sensei was joining their class, but became sympathetic to the amnesiac girl after her situation was explained.

Ikumi was overjoyed at being able to train properly. She felt like one of the holes in her soul that had haunted her since she awoke was slowly being filled. While at the dojo, she gained more than just skill and discipline. A few of the other students had become sort-of-rival friends to the redhead. Unlike the friend-rivals known in Nerima, these students really did care for her and the only rivalry was limited to sparring sessions where they tested themselves against her skill. While they never really met outside of class, she still considered them friends.

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Its now late September, two weeks after the bathroom incident, and Ikumi has been having a really bad day. It started the previous night with one of the worst nightmares she'd experienced yet, but unlike her previous ones, she could barely remember any of it. Upon awakening, her head felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer repeatedly and nothing she tried quieted the unrelenting headache.

She tried to go about a normal day. Sparring with Tamami ended quickly when she realized how close she had been to breaking the younger girl's ribs. Playing with the twins simply caused her headache to get worse from their joy-filled squeals of laughter. She tried to help Mutsumi with her watermelon garden, but eventually the sun getting in her eyes simply drove her back inside. By then it was nearing dinner time and Natsumi was in the kitchen preparing the meal.

Natsumi smiled as she heard the nearly silent footfalls behind her that she had come to recognize as those of her newest daughter. "Hello, Ikumi-chan. Feeling better?"

"No. It feels like someone keeps hitting me on the head with a log," the redhead groaned as she massaged her temples.

The Otohime matriarch stopped her preparations and turned to the girl with a sigh. "Then why are you still up and about?" she asked sternly, yet softly. She didn't want Ikumi pushing herself too hard just incase this was some delayed effect from her fall. "You should be in bed resting if it hurts that much."

A look of determination came over her features as she winced yet again from the pain. "I refuse to let a simple headache beat me," she said matter-of-factly.

Natsumi frowned for a moment at the girl before letting out a sigh. "Okay. If you're determined to not lose out to it, then… would you like to help me cook?" she said, ending the statement with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks," she said, sounding a bit stressed. She swiftly moved in next to Natsumi and began helping the mother of eight chop vegetables. While her help lacked its usual flair, with nothing being sliced in midair, she was no slower in her cutting than usual.

They proceeded along like that, working either side by side or in tandem, and a now familiar sense of nostalgia had come over the redhead. The only time she ever felt like this was when she helped Natsumi cook and it always helped her feel calm. She had started to wonder if she felt like this because she used to help her own mother with cooking. Looking over at the older woman and listening to her hum as she cooked, she couldn't help but feel like she had done this many times before, even before she lost herself.

The nostalgia and calm helped Ikumi finally push aside and forget about the headache. She continued working in the pleasant, pain-free haze for what seemed like days compared to how the rest of her day had felt.

But, it was truly all too short as a piercing wail rang through the house and the headache painfully reasserted its presence on the redhead. Shocked by the wail and the sudden jarring of her peaceful state, she sliced clean through the vegetable she had just been peeling, sending the top half of it falling to the floor. Looking down at the fallen fruit, she placed the knife and the remainder of the fruit on the table. Without a word she stormed out the door in the direction of the crying with her eye twitching and a light red haze beginning to form around her.

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Tsukuro laughed at his lethargic baby sister as she attempted to retrieve the stuffed panda he had just stolen from her and was dangling just out of her reach. "Come on! Even a snail moves faster than you!" he mocked her as she leapt up to try and grab her plushie/pillow back only to have him move it just out of reach again.

"Give Pan-chan back!" Pokari demanded with tears in the corners of her eyes as she jumped to grab at her possession again, only to miss yet again.

The bratty boy pulled down his eyelid with his free hand and stuck his tongue out at her, giving her a raspberry. "Ya gotta take it from me," he said in a little sing-song tone.

The four year old seethed at her older brother's teasing and leapt again for her panda, putting a little more push into her lift off and she nearly had her hand around one of its legs before it was yanked back out of reach. Dismayed by her inability to even touch it, she didn't pay enough attention to how she landed back on the ground and ended up stumbling backwards and falling on her rear.

Existence itself seemed to pause for a moment as the thud of the little girl's fall echoed in the room. Then she began to tremble slightly as tears began to roll down her plump cheeks. Before anything could be done, Pokari started to cry loudly from the surprise, pain, and emotions of the past few minutes.

Tsukuro, who hadn't moved when he noticed his sister start to fall backwards, was too slow in covering his ears as her wail left them ringing. 'Great, the sloth is crying. Nothing's getting through to her now,' he thought while just looking down at her. 'Might as well go and see what the twins are up to…'

He started to turn away from Pokari the exact same moment the door flew open behind him. With his hears covered, he didn't hear it, but the change in lighting caught in the corner of his eye and he started to turn faster towards the open door, expecting Tamami to be there. Before he could even turn halfway towards the door, his arm was yanked up harshly causing him to yelp and release the stuffed animal he had still been holding in that hand.

Ikumi's right hand shot out to catch the falling stuffed panda, her left hand preoccupied with holding the troublemaker by the arm so he couldn't escape. The red haze that had appeared as she left the kitchen only moments earlier was now a thin outline as she tried oh so hard to keep from physically harming her captive. Her eyes scanned over the panda, over to the source of the wail that had shattered the few tranquil moments she had had all day, and then finally back to the one she knew was the cause of it. She glared harshly at the little boy as she held his arm aloft, giving him very little room to escape.

"Hey! Leggo!" Tsukuro demanded as he tried to twist and yank his wrist free from the iron grip of his non-sister.

The redhead griped a bit tighter on his arm. "And just what do you think you were doing to her!"

The brat of the family glared back at her as he continues to struggle. "I was just makin' sure she got some exercise! She sleeps too much!"

She growled at him and glanced over at the panda in her hand again. For a moment she felt the urge to shred the offending object as something in the back of her mind snapped, but instead she just tossed it into the four year old's lap before turning back to her captive. "So tormenting her until she cries is the right thing to do!" she says loudly and angrily in his face. "What kind of man would do such a thing! Men are supposed to protect the weak!"

As Ikumi berated the young boy, Pokari's crying hadn't abated in the slightest. In fact, she hadn't even noticed her panda/pillow drop back into her lap. The wails, now no longer muffled by distance and walls, pushed the enraged redhead's headache even worse, causing something else to jar loose in her mental works.

Ikumi's head turned from Tsukuro to the crying young girl and looked at her sternly, though not glaring like she had been with the brat. "And you, Pokari!" she yelled louder than she had in his face.

Hearing her name yelled loudly snapped the youngest of the family just far enough out of her wailing to notch it down a bit and actually hear what was yelled next.

"Stop cryin' like a weak little girl! If he ain't gonna be a man, then you gotta stand up for yourself!" she said just as loudly while shaking her prisoner a bit to dive in the point she was talking about him. Her glare returned to Tsukuro as the words settled into the four year old's mind causing her crying to almost completely die away.

The bratty boy was about to complain about being shaken around when her felt the grip on him go lax and yanked himself free. He turned back to her to start yelling at her, but his words died at the expression on her face.

Gone was the glare and the eerie red glow that had surrounded her. In its place was a haunted look in her eyes as her face visibly paled. After only a moment of that, she hunched over slightly and grabbed the sides of her head in pain.

By now, most of the family had made it to the doorway to see what the ruckus was about and had been there to see almost the entire scene. They were in shock at the power and anger she had displayed so easily. Mutsumi and Natsumi were even more shocked at the words she had chosen to use towards Pokari.

Ikumi turned away from the boy and moved towards the door still clutching her head. The family quickly moved aside as Ikumi approached, not in fear, but in worry for her. The only sign that she acknowledged their presence was her pained mumbling of "I'm goin' to bed now," as she passed the two eldest females of the group.

Mutsumi looked at the retreating form of the amnesiac girl and then over to her mother with worry in her eyes. Natsumi watched as well and then sighed when she noticed her eldest's look. "Let her rest for now. She doesn't need us hanging all over her at the moment," she said and a smile bloomed on her face. "Plus, dinner is almost ready! So everyone go get cleaned up!" She then quickly shooed them off to get ready for dinner. She was just turning to head back to the kitchen when she felt a tug on her apron. Looking down, she saw her baby girl with tear-stains still on her face and hugging her doll to herself with one arm. She smiled and knelt down to her. "Yes, Po-chan? Are you feeling better now?"

The little girl nodded a bit before speaking. "Mama… Ikumi-neechan is scary," she said with a neutral expression. Before her mother could say anything though, a smile blossomed across her face. "But, but… she's really nice to! Right?"

The matriarch giggles a bit as she ruffled her daughter's hair. "Yes she is. She's just having a hard time and that's what made her scary."

The little girl nods, though not fully understanding. "Pokari wants to grow up to be like Ikumi-neechan!" she said with her eyes sparkling in the way only innocent little children like her can.

Natsumi giggled again, thinking how the newest member of the family has come to endear herself to the rest of the family in different ways. "If that's what you want, dear. But first you have to have dinner, so go wash up now," she said with a smile before gently shooing her off to get cleaned up.

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Dinner passed without much said about the incident, besides scolding Tsukuro for picking on his baby sister again. Tamami did manage to slip in a verbal jab at her brother without anyone noticing by way an offhanded comment about his wrist looking like it might need ice. It had indeed bruised a bit, but he had thought no one noticed until his slightly-older sister decided to point it out.

Mutsumi had been worried throughout most of dinner, her thoughts never landing far from the redhead and the words she had uttered. She knew those words haunted most of the girl's nightmares as she denied them repeatedly. What worried her most was that she would utter them towards someone else. She hoped it was just a result of the stress and the headache, but she felt like something bad was about to happen.

That was why, now, only a short while after dinner, she was walking down the halls towards the room her redheaded neo-sister occupied. As she neared the door with the plaque bearing the name Chinami, she paused to listen in hopes that the occupant was still awake and had calmed down, or was in a peaceful slumber. No obvious sounds emitted from the room to say she was still awake, so Mutsumi slid the door open a crack to peek in.

She gasped as she took in the scene through the narrow opening. The pillow and bed sheets were strewn about the floor chaotically, a few of the stuffed animals had apparently been knocked over by the flying bedspread, and Midori-chan had managed to find herself a safe spot by hiding in one of the gaps in the mangas on the shelves. But worst of all was Ikumi herself. She was curled up in a fetal position while apparently trying to protect her head from yet another invisible attacker.

With her worry now fully justified, Mutsumi opened the door fully and stepped into the room. The redhead tensed for a moment as she entered, but relaxed quickly and began to sob while still curled up. "Ikumi-chan," she said in a comforting tone as she neared the side of the bed. Her only reply was the continued sob and unintelligible whimpers. She started to reach out to comfort the girl before her, but a sound from behind her caught her attention.

"Myu!" Midori-chan sounded from her makeshift barricade with a tone of warning.

The turtle-speaker stood back up and looked over towards the bookcase. "What is it, Midori-chan?"

The turtle's head poked out from behind the books and looked over at the bed, then over to her. "Myuu myumyu myuuuuu myu…" the little creature said while waving a fin in the air as if mixing her chirps with flag language.

Mutsumi's worry etched deeper into her expression as she listened to the shelled resident of the room. 'Her nightmare keeps repeating?' she thought, mentally repeating the turtle's words. 'And she's already gone through it five times…?' She looked back over to the sleeping redhead only to catch the beginning of the next cycle.

Ikumi had just shifted out of the fetal position she had been in and her whimpering had become loud and coherent enough to be understood. "Please, no more… stop… don't throw me in again," she whimpered loudly while thrashing around, apparently trying to free herself from something. "Don't… they want to eat me… no more… I'm not a weak little girl! No! Not the pit!" she sobbed loudly as she curled into an even tighter ball than before and her whimpers and sobs sounded even more pained.

Tears rolled down the elder girl's cheeks as she listened to the girl's cries for mercy from whatever demon was haunting her nightmares. The redhead's thrashing had kept her at bay, but now that she had curled herself up, Mutsumi wasted no time and leaned over to pull her into a comforting embrace. "Ikumi-chan. You're safe, Ikumi-chan," she said softly into the girl's ear. "No one will hurt you here. I won't let anyone hurt you," she said while hugging her close.

Within her nightmare, Ikumi struggled against the grip of the man that held her aloft while yelling and pleading to be let go, only to have her words fall on deaf ears. The man lifted the cover off the dug out pit filled with writhing fur, claws, teeth, and demonic glowing eyes while keeping her writhing form off the ground and giving her no chance to escape, just like the other times. She cried and pleaded loudly as he held her over the open maw in the earth.

"Stop whining like a weak little girl!" the man commanded angrily.

"I'm not a weak little girl!" she retorted just as angrily. That caused the man to laugh and release his grip on her, dropping her into the writhing mass below. "No! Not the pit!" she cried out as she fell and he replaced the lid, shutting off any exit from the now dark pit.

She sank deeper into the mass of starved creatures as they clawed and chewed at her flesh, slowly devouring her. She curled up in a ball to try and protect as much of herself as she could while trying to fight off the furry mass as best she could. She sobbed and cried out in pain as they took bits of her flesh off with each swipe or bite and she thought she would die in this dark hole. She begged for help as she sobbed even though she knew the only person nearby that could help was the demon that had put her in here in the first place. Soon, she was too exhausted to fight them off anymore and she just curled up to await her end.

As she curled up, the mass pulled away from her and a warmth surrounded her. At first she thought it was the feeling of her own blood surrounding her, but then she felt like she was being lifted up. "No one will hurt you here," a gentle voice said, echoing in the darkness. "I won't let anyone hurt you." Ikumi sobbed again, this time in happiness that someone was saving her from this hell, and mentally threw herself to the voice and warmth. The furry mass writhed and yowled in protest before surging forth again and engulfing the girl.

She didn't understand why, but she trusted the voice and its warmth and when the claws and teeth started for her she knew she would be safe and did not fight back. Everything quickly faded away after that.

Mutsumi hugged the redhead tighter to her as she seemed to relax and the nightmare passed. She sat there holding the now still redhead in her lap and petted her back, worried that this might just be some lull in the nightmare because of the sudden change. Her worry was abated though as sleeping girl snuggled up to her in her sleep. She smiled down at her now peaceful expression.

Sure that the nightmare had passed now, Mutsumi rolled the girl from her lap and back onto the bed. As she was pulling her hand away though, the redhead's expression contorted and she started to whimper again. The elder girl blinked and moved back to her side and put an arm around her, only to have the whimpering immediately stop and the redhead latched onto her arm firmly.

Mutsumi pulled slightly against the grip, but realized that it was indeed firm. She smiled down at the redhead and understood what she needed. Without any words, she used her free hand to undress herself to where she could sleep comfortably. With Midori-chan's help, she was able to get the pillow and blankets back on the bed without jostling the sleeping girl around too much and laid down next to her, pulling her back into a hug and kissing her on the forehead. "It's ok, Ikumi-chan," she whispered gently. "I won't go anywhere."

Ikumi's expression softened again and she released the older girl's arm only to latch around her waist. Mutsumi happily encircled the redhead with her own arms which caused her to snuggle closer again. Soon, she too was drifting off to sleep and just as sleep was overtaking her, she would have sworn she heard her adopted sister purring.

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Author's Notes: Sorry I took so long! Writer's block and a few things in real life sorta kept my attention off my writing. So, as an apology, a larger than average chapter! Admitantly it has most of what I wanted in it anyway... but I still had to cut it short otherwise I would have written it up to twice my normal size.

I hope I wrote this chapter well enough to prove Ikumi simply isn't a clean slate and that the memories are resurfacing somewhat. It will be a long time before she can remember everything. And before anyone thinks I'm going to make an Ikumi/Male match up… I have NO match ups planned, but an Ikumi/Male match up is less likely than an Akane match up… and I've already decided this won't be an Akane match up. :P

I'm also working on my own website, linked from my FFnet bio, but am tossing the current version out and trying to come up with a better looking take on it… though the color-scheme will probably stay. :3

Special Thanks To:  
The FukuFics Crew


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